Nexstar to acquire Tegna

[Recovering Producer 410]

Babe, wake up, a new Nexstar hoping to buying Tegna report just dropped. 

https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/nextar-tegna-deal-talks-0e1d7524

[broadcastfan9751 150]

2 minutes ago, Recovering Producer said:

Babe, wake up, a new Nexstar hoping to buying Tegna report just dropped. 

https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/nextar-tegna-deal-talks-0e1d7524

 

Not just hoping, from the wording of it, it sounds like they're close to a deal.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 869]

Please don't let them do those same shenanigans that Sinclair tried to do with Tribune. 

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

And when do we get the magical assurance from the FCC (or our lord and savior DJT) that all of this forthcoming consolidation is legal?
 

[GoldenShine_10 263]

6 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

And when do we get the magical assurance from the FCC (or our lord and savior DJT) that all of this forthcoming consolidation is legal?
 

 

It will be the messiest acquisition ever. At least 2/3 of them overlap, many of them with triopolies or quadropolies created. In Little Rock, it forms a quintopoly. I see no way they would be allowed to own THAT much, even though I am sure they will keep quite a few duopolies.

 

The latest Gray moves do, interestingly, help somewhat in that the triopolies they have created can become trade pieces in some markets to possibly help both parties - to an extent. But there's going to almost certainly be a challenge.

[mre29 1967]

54 minutes ago, Recovering Producer said:

Babe, wake up, a new Nexstar hoping to buying Tegna report just dropped. 

https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/nextar-tegna-deal-talks-0e1d7524

 

WSJ's paywall is notoriously hard to get around. Do you have a non-WSJ source?

 

[Dave Lampstein 287]

9 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

WSJ's paywall is notoriously hard to get around. Do you have a non-WSJ source?

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tv-broadcaster-nexstar-advanced-talks-213019553.html
 

 

[mre29 1967]

17 minutes ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

It will be the messiest acquisition ever. At least 2/3 of them overlap, many of them with triopolies or quadropolies created. In Little Rock, it forms a quintopoly. I see no way they would be allowed to own THAT much, even though I am sure they will keep quite a few duopolies.

 

Both companies have duopolies here in the Hartford-New Haven market (WTNH-WCTX and WTIC-WCCT), and I don't see a quadropoly happening.

 

[GoldenShine_10 263]

6 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

Both companies have duopolies here in the Hartford-New Haven market (WTNH-WCTX and WTIC-WCCT), and I don't see a quadropoly happening.

 

 

The comprehensive exhibits will be so key.

Edited August 8, 2025 by GoldenShine_10

[nathannah 2792]

30 minutes ago, mre29 said:

Both companies have duopolies here in the Hartford-New Haven market (WTNH-WCTX and WTIC-WCCT), and I don't see a quadropoly happening.

WCTX channel shares with WTNH, and WCCT's main channel is hosted by WTIC as the area lighthouse. Subnets notwithstanding, it's a very manageable conflict as we all know WCTX is the CW affiliate once Tegna's CW deal is done, and WCCT (which had their 'site' hosted on the CW+ portal for over a decade) is all but a zombie station once the CW moves off there (the only issue with CW of course is if WTNH prefers to keep the primetime newscasts as-is and they move to streaming/WTNH+ down the line).

 

Worse comes to worse because WCTX and WTNH channel share is both WCCT and WCTX get sold off to someone like RNN, Weigel or HC2/Innovate, and 59.1 becomes 8.2 in a renumbering and is your new CW affiliate. And Nexstar still has a wild card with WFXQ-CD, which could be moved from being a WWLP UHF repeater in Springfield to a Hartford station without any regulatory conflicts rather easily. WTIC could even be sold off to comfortably fit Fox onto 20.1 because hey, it's #6 in the market until Fox moves there, so then it's a 'clean deal' in technicality.

 

They will finagle these deals and conflicts in a way that makes Sinclair/Tribune look like a clean merger in comparison.

[Recovering Producer 410]

1 hour ago, nathannah said:

WCTX channel shares with WTNH, and WCCT's main channel is hosted by WTIC as the area lighthouse. Subnets notwithstanding, it's a very manageable conflict as we all know WCTX is the CW affiliate once Tegna's CW deal is done, and WCCT (which had their 'site' hosted on the CW+ portal for over a decade) is all but a zombie station once the CW moves off there (the only issue with CW of course is if WTNH prefers to keep the primetime newscasts as-is and they move to streaming/WTNH+ down the line).

 

Worse comes to worse because WCTX and WTNH channel share is both WCCT and WCTX get sold off to someone like RNN, Weigel or HC2/Innovate, and 59.1 becomes 8.2 in a renumbering and is your new CW affiliate. And Nexstar still has a wild card with WFXQ-CD, which could be moved from being a WWLP UHF repeater in Springfield to a Hartford station without any regulatory conflicts rather easily. WTIC could even be sold off to comfortably fit Fox onto 20.1 because hey, it's #6 in the market until Fox moves there, so then it's a 'clean deal' in technicality.

 

They will finagle these deals and conflicts in a way that makes Sinclair/Tribune look like a clean merger in comparison.

 

This. There are no "good' (or heck, mediocre) companies that will get the scraps *if* there are parts of the merger that won't be allowed by the DOJ and FCC. 

Some strategic swaps that are mutually beneficial for big companies to minimize single station operations? Perhaps.

But any spinoffs are going to be strictly to sidecars, spectrum speculators, and maybe some godcasters.

[Rusty Muck 4688]

3 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

WSJ's paywall is notoriously hard to get around. Do you have a non-WSJ source?

 

Here's the WSJ story from MSN.

[Breaking News 888]

Nexstar wants to acquire TEGNA  hmmm

https://www.reuters.com/business/tv-broadcaster-nexstar-advanced-talks-acquire-rival-tegna-source-says-2025-08-08/

 

Edited August 9, 2025 by Breaking News

[GoldenShine_10 263]

From what I can tell, with that court decision, owning 2 stations is legal even if in the top 4. However, triopolies (and beyond) are not legal.

[Nelson R. 585]

46 minutes ago, Breaking News said:

Nexstar wants to acquire TEGNA  hmmm

https://www.reuters.com/business/tv-broadcaster-nexstar-advanced-talks-acquire-rival-tegna-source-says-2025-08-08/

 

So who gets divested in Charlotte? Isn’t WCNC higher rated than WJZY/WMYT?  And WMYT is about to get CW.

[GoldenShine_10 263]

5 minutes ago, Nelson R. said:

So who gets divested in Charlotte? Isn’t WCNC higher rated than WJZY/WMYT?  And WMYT is about to get CW.

 

WMYT likely gets shoehorned away. WCNC and WJZY would be the duopoly in that case I would think, with Fox or CW on 36.2. (From my interpretation, top-4 rule no longer exists, but still cannot legally form triopolies)

Edited August 9, 2025 by GoldenShine_10

[nathannah 2792]

47 minutes ago, Nelson R. said:

So who gets divested in Charlotte? Isn’t WCNC higher rated than WJZY/WMYT?  And WMYT is about to get CW.

WMYT is a literal subchannel among WJZY's formerly record-high map under a channel sharing agreement, so a sale of them to TCT, and The CW Charlotte is 46.2. That channel position has been empty for years even back to the Fox days, as if they've always known a WMYT conflict sale can just have the license and channel share agreement, not the station IP and schedule and it's an easy move.

[lugnutsbax6 2]

the question I have is , out of the whole duop and Triop, and now even QUADOPs ,  should the deal be even BLESSED, which one will get that "SPECIAL WAIVER" filed, otherwise known as "FAILED STATION WAIVER" translation...what station will become the proverbial sacrificial lamb for the other...?!

[Rusty Muck 4688]

It's so cute that everyone is just casually assuming that Nexstar would be obligated to sell anything when this merger is announced. The cold hard fact is Brendan Carr—a total right-wing hack of the worst sort—along with his lackey Olivia Trusty, will do all they can to get this cleared and approved as quickly as possible and will ignore any protests to the contrary. Why? Because Nexstar is the quintessential Republican company led by a typical Republican (Perry) whose lone purpose is to buy shit up. It's a company Brendan Carr loves and adores. We've seen in full display what he'll do with companies he doesn't like.

 

Who cares if the current legislation doesn't allow it? No one else in this regime gives two shits about laws on the books they don't like, let alone one shit. Congress, who already just destroyed public broadcasting with a glint in their eye, wouldn't care if Carr superceded them (beyond the meaningless whining from the likes of Susan Collins or the tone-deaf tweets of an enriched, oblivious Charles Schumer) and you know it.

Edited August 9, 2025 by Rusty Muck

[l_miro 245]

4 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

It's so cute that everyone is just casually assuming that Nexstar would be obligated to sell anything when this merger is announced. The cold hard fact is Brendan Carr—a total right-wing hack of the worst sort—along with his lackey Olivia Trusty, will do all they can to get this cleared and approved as quickly as possible and will ignore any protests to the contrary. Why? Because Nexstar is the quintessential Republican company led by a typical Republican (Perry) whose lone purpose is to buy shit up. It's a company Brendan Carr loves and adores. We've seen in full display what he'll do with companies he doesn't like.

 

Who cares if the current legislation doesn't allow it? No one else in this regime gives two shits about laws on the books they don't like, let alone one shit. Congress, who already just destroyed public broadcasting with a glint in their eye, wouldn't care if Carr superceded them (beyond the meaningless whining from the likes of Susan Collins or the tone-deaf tweets of an enriched, oblivious Charles Schumer) and you know it.

 

CPAC of all organizations just came out with a 17-page filing with the FCC opposing media consolidation. Along with the CWA union. The assumption this will sail through without opposition is a fever dream

 

[MidwestTV 1358]

4 minutes ago, l_miro said:

 

CPAC of all organizations just came out with a 17-page filing with the FCC opposing media consolidation. Along with the CWA union. The assumption this will sail through without opposition is a fever dream

 

 

Their opposition being...?

[l_miro 245]

51 minutes ago, MidwestTV said:

 

Their opposition being...?

 

Non-chamber of commerce Republicans.

 

CPAC and Newsmax are only now starting to bring it to people's attention. Broadly, the media has ignored it. 

 

CPAC statement toward the end of their letter gives a good idea how the debate on the ownership cap will evolve very soon-ish:

 

Quote

Newsmax describes in detail how it has been denied carriage opportunities or disadvantaged in channel placement due to its refusal to align with dominant narratives or larger industry players. This is especially troubling given that Nexstar and Fox are not only large station owners but also operate their own cable news channels, NewsNation and Fox News, respectively. When these conglomerates also own broadcast stations that control retransmission leverage, they are uniquely positioned to suppress competitors in the multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) environment. The result is a chilling effect on viewpoint diversity, particularly among conservative alternatives to legacy players.

 

As Newsmax notes, when smaller conservative voices are squeezed out of the marketplace by ownership consolidation, the range of policy debates within the conservative movement narrows. This reduces opportunities for grassroots-driven narratives to gain traction and weakens the ecosystem that supports competition in both media and ideas. The FCC must consider whether its proposed rule would inadvertently entrench a narrow ideological gatekeeper model within right-leaning media.

 

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10804739414409/1

 

CPAC made a really cogent argument about everything, and drew big attention to the UHF discount calling it "technologically unjustifiable" and even illegal at one point.

 

The 39% cap removal would have to pass the house and the senate. If the dominant conservative narrative, which CPAC would likely end up being heavily involved in, is the same as that letter they wrote then congress likely won't touch it. Or at least not before the midterms. And if it becomes a frenzied debate that isn't controlled by the Chamber of Commerce GOPers, we might live to see them lower the cap. 

 

This half-assed FCC stunt could actually end up backfiring on Nexstar, Sinclair et al spectacularly

 

 

[24994J 5888]

1 hour ago, l_miro said:

CPAC of all organizations just came out with a 17-page filing with the FCC opposing media consolidation. Along with the CWA union. The assumption this will sail through without opposition is a fever dream

 

Oh no! A strongly-worded letter? That'll sway them.

[Rusty Muck 4688]

53 minutes ago, 24994J said:

 

Oh no! A strongly-worded letter? That'll sway them.

Exactly. It's meaningless Kabuki theatre just like the same crap Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell (no longer a senate leader) pull so they can give the illusion of acting under their own free will and give the illusion of a sure-fire passage of an awful bill being "in doubt". But when push comes to shove, they'll fall in line with the regime. It's in their DNA.

[MarkBRollins88_v2 355]

9 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

It's so cute that everyone is just casually assuming that Nexstar would be obligated to sell anything when this merger is announced. The cold hard fact is Brendan Carr—a total right-wing hack of the worst sort—along with his lackey Olivia Trusty, will do all they can to get this cleared and approved as quickly as possible and will ignore any protests to the contrary. Why? Because Nexstar is the quintessential Republican company led by a typical Republican (Perry) whose lone purpose is to buy shit up. It's a company Brendan Carr loves and adores. We've seen in full display what he'll do with companies he doesn't like.

 

Who cares if the current legislation doesn't allow it? No one else in this regime gives two shits about laws on the books they don't like, let alone one shit. Congress, who already just destroyed public broadcasting with a glint in their eye, wouldn't care if Carr superceded them (beyond the meaningless whining from the likes of Susan Collins or the tone-deaf tweets of an enriched, oblivious Charles Schumer) and you know it.

RT!!!!!