Nexstar to launch nightly newscasts on Tegna CW stations in Dallas and Phoenix

Nexstar Media Group will launch nightly 9 p.m. newscasts on its CW-affiliated stations in Dallas–Ft. Worth, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, beginning in mid-August, according to a press release.

The newscasts will air seven days a week following The CW’s primetime programming. Nexstar owns KDAF, branded as CW33, in Dallas and provides programming and other services to KAZT, branded as CW7 Arizona, in Phoenix under a time brokerage agreement.

The launches expand Nexstar’s local news operations into two of the country’s 12 largest television markets. The company did not announce the programs’ anchors, formats or exact premiere dates.

While Nexstar did not mention who would handle editorial operations for the broadcasts, later social media posts from Nexstar staffers indicated that WFAA, which is owned by Tegna, would handle production of KDAF’s newscasts. Tegna’s KPNX will also reportedly produce KAZT’s broadcasts. Neither KPNX nor KDAF has its own newsrooms, and setting them up would likely be difficult under such a tight timeline. 

DirecTV, states accuse Nexstar of violating Tegna separation order

It was not immediately clear how this co-production arrangement might be viewed by courts, which have already ordered Tegna and Nexstar to operate independently while an antitrust lawsuit proceeds.

That said, it is not uncommon for two television stations with legally disparate ownership to enter into similar production arrangements, so such a deal between Tegna and Nexstar wouldn’t necessarily raise red flags. 

Nexstar also owns the controlling stake in The CW network, meaning that, if the lawsuits against the merger fail, KDAF and KAZT would become Nexstar-owned-and-operated stations alongside WFAA and KPNX.

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