Nexstar to acquire Tegna

[DENDude 259]

I feel like nexstar telling stations to not take NBC News Special Reports is playing with fire.   Wasn't something like this an issue with NBC in 1989 when they bought & then moved the affiliation to WTVJ from WSVN?   Or am I crazy?    And does nexstar have this directive for there Tegna ABC & CBS Stations?  If not why??

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

Bottom line, if the networks walk away from Nexstar, the stations will be virtually worthless and won't command any decent money in the retransmission game.  They'll be stuck as a broadcaster having to go back to the old ways of making as much money from advertising as possible.

 

And having three or four stations in a market without a network affiliations?  That's a lot of programming and time to fill.

[TVLurker 389]

16 minutes ago, DENDude said:

I feel like nexstar telling stations to not take NBC News Special Reports is playing with fire.   Wasn't something like this an issue with NBC in 1989 when they bought & then moved the affiliation to WTVJ from WSVN?   Or am I crazy?    And does nexstar have this directive for there Tegna ABC & CBS Stations?  If not why??

It kind of had to do with NBC's relationship with Ansin, which was terrible despite Ansin being super loyal to NBC. WSVN at the time was a 3rd placer which pre-empted NBC shows during a time when NBC was less tolerant and NBC thought they could do better and bought WTVJ in 1987, they waited 1 year and a half due to Ansin getting NBC to honor out their contract.

 

WSVN turned out through failed CBS negotiations which resulted in them buying the then WCIX from TVX a Fox affiliate. Ultimately, WSVN had managed to propel itself in the ratings thanks to its highly successful and unique news operation while WTVJ fell due to finding itself under WSVN's shadow and NBC's inconsistent direction whether to make the news department more traditional or more tabloid.

 

While NBC affiliated with WHDH at the time, their relationship still felt unstable and after speaking out against the stupidity of the 10PM Jay Leno show, managed to tank their relationship despite the overall failure of the 10PM Jay Leno show. 7 years later, NBC created a station (WBTS) out of thin air, leaving WHDH to become an independent similar to WSVN.

 

Compared to Nexstar which would involve affiliation switches the likes of which haven't been seen since 1994-1996, Ansin looks tame by comparison.

[jumbojoe92 1]

On 3/31/2026 at 10:15 PM, TVLurker said:

It kind of had to do with NBC's relationship with Ansin, which was terrible despite Ansin being super loyal to NBC. WSVN at the time was a 3rd placer which pre-empted NBC shows during a time when NBC was less tolerant and NBC thought they could do better and bought WTVJ in 1987, they waited 1 year and a half due to Ansin getting NBC to honor out their contract.

 

WSVN turned out through failed CBS negotiations which resulted in them buying the then WCIX from TVX a Fox affiliate. Ultimately, WSVN had managed to propel itself in the ratings thanks to its highly successful and unique news operation while WTVJ fell due to finding itself under WSVN's shadow and NBC's inconsistent direction whether to make the news department more traditional or more tabloid.

 

While NBC affiliated with WHDH at the time, their relationship still felt unstable and after speaking out against the stupidity of the 10PM Jay Leno show, managed to tank their relationship despite the overall failure of the 10PM Jay Leno show. 7 years later, NBC created a station (WBTS) out of thin air, leaving WHDH to become an independent similar to WSVN.

 

Compared to Nexstar which would involve affiliation switches the likes of which haven't been seen since 1994-1996, Ansin looks tame by comparison.

At this point - Let him have it - It's obvious he's trying to build the network from his own stations but also trying to milk off the big four for as much as what its worth - We're head to a world whether it's about to be Canada where we have all stations owned by a network - or the Big 4 (or new versions of them) are streaming-only. I'd personally love for this to blow up in the discount-looking face of J.R. Ewing! 

[l_miro 245]

Nexstar has notified the court they can't comply with the TRO because certain actions they took "cannot be undone". Integration of personel and infrastructure had taken place, such as merging websites. SEC reporting rules, to report debt They're also arguing the TRO goes against FCC mandates to divest 6 stations and expand news programming.

 

The bench hearing is still scheduled for August 7 at 2pm

 

The judge also rolled the Plaintiff States lawsuit into the DirecTV one

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

3 hours ago, l_miro said:

Nexstar has notified the court they can't comply with the TRO because certain actions they took "cannot be undone". Integration of personel and infrastructure had taken place, such as merging websites. SEC reporting rules, to report debt They're also arguing the TRO goes against FCC mandates to divest 6 stations and expand news programming.

 

The bench hearing is still scheduled for August 7 at 2pm

 

The judge also rolled the Plaintiff States lawsuit into the DirecTV one

Cry me a river Nexstar.  You broke it, you bought it, you fix it when it's ruled you should not have been able to buy it.

[GoldenShine_10 263]

7 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Cry me a river Nexstar.  You broke it, you bought it, you fix it when it's ruled you should not have been able to buy it.

 

Say hello to a forced fire sale...

[channel2 1042]

On 3/31/2026 at 7:59 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

Bottom line, if the networks walk away from Nexstar, the stations will be virtually worthless and won't command any decent money in the retransmission game.  They'll be stuck as a broadcaster having to go back to the old ways of making as much money from advertising as possible.

 

And having three or four stations in a market without a network affiliations?  That's a lot of programming and time to fill.

 

It sure doesn't help that most of the programming worth a damn is owned by the same companies as the major networks! Michael Eisner openly threatened ABC affiliates in 1998 and said that the likes of Disney owned all the "software"...

[mre29 1967]

8 hours ago, l_miro said:

Nexstar has notified the court they can't comply with the TRO because certain actions they took "cannot be undone". Integration of personel and infrastructure had taken place, such as merging websites. SEC reporting rules, to report debt They're also arguing the TRO goes against FCC mandates to divest 6 stations and expand news programming.

 

Hopefully the court will respond with something along the lines of, "That's not our problem. Comply anyway."

 

[mre29 1967]

I'm a little confused as to why Nexstar doing one thing in Indianapolis (keeping their WXIN/WTTV duopoly and divesting WTHR) but something different in Hampton Roads (splitting up WAVY and WVBT, divesting WAVY, and making a new WVEC/WVBT duopoly). Is it simply a case of WVEC bringing in more revenue via reverse transmission payments than WAVY does? Is WVEC simply higher-rated?

 

 

[Dave Lampstein 287]

Did anyone read this tool's take on the situation?

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/regulation/article/jessell-courts-shouldnt-meddle-in-the-nexstar-tegna-deal/

 

Jessell is as much of a con artist as Scott Jones at FTVLive. 

[DENDude 259]

I feel that the current pause is warranted at this time, if nothing else changes with this merger the least the court could do is force more station spin offs by Nexstar.   As far as Nexstar not taking network special reports I fell that is wrong on some level too, although I don't know if the court could really say much about that, that should be up to the networks to decide. 

[ABC 7 Denver 1889]

45 minutes ago, Dave Lampstein said:

Did anyone read this tool's take on the situation?

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/regulation/article/jessell-courts-shouldnt-meddle-in-the-nexstar-tegna-deal/

 

Jessell is as much of a con artist as Scott Jones at FTVLive. 

 

How is Scott a tool? Feel free to DM me if you want to discuss privately. I just haven't found that to be the case.

  

7 minutes ago, DENDude said:

I feel that the current pause is warranted at this time, if nothing else changes with this merger the least the court could do is force more station spin offs by Nexstar.   As far as Nexstar not taking network special reports I fell that is wrong on some level too, although I don't know if the court could really say much about that, that should be up to the networks to decide. 

 

From Harry's Biography:

"Prior to launching TVNewsCheck in January 2006, Harry worked for more than 25 years as a reporter and editor for B&C (formerly Broadcasting). As the magazine’s top editor from 1997 to 2004, Harry moved the magazine from Washington to New York City and shifted its focus from law and regulation to programming and business".

 

Harry is more concerned with profit. Public interest be damn.

 

Edited April 3 by ABC 7 Denver

[channel2 1042]

To wit.

 

Quote

By the time the FCC gets around to re-examining the multiple ownership limits, the question won't be whether 12 is enough but whether 85 is too many. The combination of attribution practices that allow Rupert Murdoch to own an infinite number of properties as long as his voting control is less than 50%, and FCC Chairman Reed Hundt's determination to advance minority ownership at any price, is creating an explosion of ownership changes that's not about to wait for the rules.

We're all for it. This magazine has been preaching the doctrine of free enterprise and marketplace since the Communications Act was a pup. We applaud Murdoch and company for exploiting an advantage that others ignored. The rules, anachronistic as they are, had allowed nonvoting ownership on a non-attributed basis for years, but it generally wasn't done. Then Murdoch set up SF Broadcasting, under Tom Herwitz, to put $100 million into non-attributed interests, and Capcities/ABC put over $25 million into Young Broadcasting for non-voting interests and a pact to buy even more. Last week, Fox struck again, venturing with minority-owned Blackstar Communications to acquire upwards of $20 million worth of stations. At press time we were reporting Tribune Broadcasting venturing with a group of minorities in a compact that might be leveraged to half a billion.

 

As often happens, the marketplace has moved into a vacuum left by governmental inertia. The landscape of station ownership in this country is about to be fundamentally redrawn. Let's hear it for Yankee ingenuity.

 

This has no byline, but it lines up with views Jessell has espoused over the years.

Edited April 3 by channel2

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

DirecTV's response:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.484734/gov.uscourts.caed.484734.97.0.pdf

 

Of note:
"As the Court recognized, Nexstar could have entirely avoided the need for a hold-separate order had it simply 'waited to complete the acquisition until after this Court’s ruling on Plaintiff’s claims.' Nexstar dedicates most of its Notice to bemoaning the consequences of its own hasty actions."

 

[MidwestTV 1358]

19 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

DirecTV's response:

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.caed.484734/gov.uscourts.caed.484734.97.0.pdf

 

Of note:
"As the Court recognized, Nexstar could have entirely avoided the need for a hold-separate order had it simply 'waited to complete the acquisition until after this Court’s ruling on Plaintiff’s claims.' Nexstar dedicates most of its Notice to bemoaning the consequences of its own hasty actions."

 

 

I've had the impression that Nexstar and Tegna had begun the integration process BEFORE the sale was actually finalized, which seems illegal in and of itself. They owned Tegna for TWO DAYS before the TRO was issued. What could they have possibly done in two days that's so permanent it can't be undone? This is why I think the FCC had told Nexstar well before the sale was formally approved that it would happen no matter what and to basically go ahead and start acting as if the two had been merged.

 

I'm starting to believe Nexstar didn't have any plan in place for any kind of lawsuit or what-if scenario of the deal being blocked.

[jumbojoe92 1]

1 hour ago, MidwestTV said:

 

I've had the impression that Nexstar and Tegna had begun the integration process BEFORE the sale was actually finalized, which seems illegal in and of itself. They owned Tegna for TWO DAYS before the TRO was issued. What could they have possibly done in two days that's so permanent it can't be undone? This is why I think the FCC had told Nexstar well before the sale was formally approved that it would happen no matter what and to basically go ahead and start acting as if the two had been merged.

 

I'm starting to believe Nexstar didn't have any plan in place for any kind of lawsuit or what-if scenario of the deal being blocked.

Ready for the Hindenburg-esque situation to go down maybe?

[cg4 18]

20 hours ago, mre29 said:

I'm a little confused as to why Nexstar doing one thing in Indianapolis (keeping their WXIN/WTTV duopoly and divesting WTHR) but something different in Hampton Roads (splitting up WAVY and WVBT, divesting WAVY, and making a new WVEC/WVBT duopoly). Is it simply a case of WVEC bringing in more revenue via reverse transmission payments than WAVY does? Is WVEC simply higher-rated?

 

 

WAVY is #1 in most newscasts. Sign-on to sign-off, IDK. WAVY and WVEC were fairly close in the ratings when the latter was owned by Belo.

[NYAZSporty 196]

18 hours ago, DENDude said:

As far as Nexstar not taking network special reports I fell that is wrong on some level too, although I don't know if the court could really say much about that, that should be up to the networks to decide. 

Yeah, it's one thing if a station declines to airing a network piece concerning a nat'l/world story during a newscast for taking a report from CNN Newsource or from their own news group which can happen ocassionally for non-O&O stations, but not showing network SRs is another story.

[GraphicsMan 345]

4 minutes ago, NYAZSporty said:

Yeah, it's one thing if a station declines to airing a network piece concerning a nat'l/world story during a newscast for taking a report from CNN Newsource or from their own news group which can happen ocassionally for non-O&O stations, but not showing network SRs is another story.

They can’t deny SRs that could be a violation of contract.

[nathannah 2792]

Found this looking around Facebook (which has been throwing me so much Indianapolis content lately); apparently one of those things Nexstar couldn't restore back to pre-merger is a Baron contract for Tegna's weather apps they terminated, and they were pulled EOD on March 31. If you know how trash a Nexstar phone app is for weather, not a great sign.

[DJonNews 104]

4 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

 

I've had the impression that Nexstar and Tegna had begun the integration process BEFORE the sale was actually finalized, which seems illegal in and of itself. They owned Tegna for TWO DAYS before the TRO was issued. What could they have possibly done in two days that's so permanent it can't be undone? This is why I think the FCC had told Nexstar well before the sale was formally approved that it would happen no matter what and to basically go ahead and start acting as if the two had been merged.

 

I'm starting to believe Nexstar didn't have any plan in place for any kind of lawsuit or what-if scenario of the deal being blocked.

This. Nexstar was like the impatient child on Christmas. They wanted their shiny new toys now instead of waiting until it was their turn to have their gifts opened.

 

They also let their arrogance get in the way of good judgement. Only doing the bare minimum to sell off stations (all but one of which are the lesser-prized of their possessions) so they can keep the more attractive ones, which solves very few, if at all, problems with regards to conflicts whatsoever; surely that will go over well.

 

Putting aside the logistics of the deal, all they had to do was wait until after the coast was truly clear, even if the FCC told them to jump sooner rather than later.

 

It's been botched already because they rushed it without thinking about what happens if they make too many changes too soon.

Edited April 3 by DJonNews

[mre29 1967]

18 minutes ago, nathannah said:

Found this looking around Facebook (which has been throwing me so much Indianapolis content lately); apparently one of those things Nexstar couldn't restore back to pre-merger is a Baron contract for Tegna's weather apps they terminated, and they were pulled EOD on March 31. If you know how trash a Nexstar phone app is for weather, not a great sign.
 

 

That's pretty ironic for a station with call letters that could be seen as referring to WeaTHeR.

 

[l_miro 245]

4 hours ago, DJonNews said:

This. Nexstar was like the impatient child on Christmas. They wanted their shiny new toys now instead of waiting until it was their turn to have their gifts opened.

 

They also let their arrogance get in the way of good judgement. Only doing the bare minimum to sell off stations (all but one of which are the lesser-prized of their possessions) so they can keep the more attractive ones, which solves very few, if at all, problems with regards to conflicts whatsoever; surely that will go over well.

 

Putting aside the logistics of the deal, all they had to do was wait until after the coast was truly clear, even if the FCC told them to jump sooner rather than later.

 

It's been botched already because they rushed it without thinking about what happens if they make too many changes too soon.

 

Nexstar weren't impatient. They moved quickly after the FCC approval probably anticipating State Plaintiffs/DIRECTV will file a TRO but also because Bank of America gave Nexstar a high-interest 7-day bridge loan to close the deal. As soon as the approval came TGNA was removed from trading and Nexstar moved quickly to sell bonds to repay the BoA bridge, and pay TGNA stock holders their $22/share. These deals are loaded with tens of millions of $ in fees so any delays end up costing.

 

Asst. AG from the State Plaintiffs complained in the filing that she emailed Nexstar counsel to delay the closing, but they weren't responding for something like a week, the merger closed, and Nexstar replied saying it's too late to wait. Not illegal, just State Plaintiffs got outmaneuvered. Nexstar is not required to wait or accomodate any pending litigation unless it's court ordered, it's on the plaintiff to counter it.

 

[carolinanews4 455]

1 hour ago, l_miro said:

Nexstar is not required to wait or accomodate any pending litigation unless it's court ordered, it's on the plaintiff to counter it.

 You are right, Nexstar was not required to wait to close the deal. However, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. It is irresponsible to shareholders, employees, and other stakeholders to close on a deal when you had a heads up that litigation was coming. (It also exposes the company to lawsuits down the road from shareholders seeking damages should the deal get blocked, either in full or in part.)
 

Just like Nexstar was not required to wait to accommodate pending litigation, the plaintiffs and court are not required to ignore a potentially antitrust violating deal just because Nexstar has a high interest bridge loan. 
 

The smart thing for Nexstar would have been to wait. Now they will have to explain what irreversible things they possibly could have done in the short period of time they were in control. Discovery on that may expose they were involved in decisions prior to closing, which is illegal.
 

They will probably also have to answer why they didn’t respond to inquiries by state attorneys general prior to closing and, if those AGs are smart, that path may lead to questions on whether Nexstar had any heads up or coordination with the federal government.

 

In short, could they close when they did? Sure. Should they have closed? Nope. 

Edited April 4 by carolinanews4
Typo