The owner of Providence’s WPRI-TV must answer allegations that it violated a federal order keeping it separate from rival Tegna Inc., a new test for the broadcaster’s stalled $6.2 billion expansion as state attorneys general challenge further consolidation of local television ownership.
Nexstar Media Group Inc., which owns WPRI-TV and provides programming through FOX Providence, The CW Providence and myRITV in the Providence-New Bedford market, has until July 28 to respond to the allegations. Replies are due July 30.
A coalition of 13 attorneys general and DirecTV alleged that Nexstar breached an April preliminary injunction by appointing current and former Nexstar executives to Tegna’s board. Chief U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley had ordered the companies to halt integration and maintain Tegna as a separately managed business while the antitrust case proceeds.
Local sponsorWorld-class website design at a small business priceCompany 50Nexstar disputes that the appointments violate the order, arguing that its executives’ service on Tegna’s board is consistent with the injunction and necessary for the company to meet financial-reporting obligations. Nexstar has also appealed the preliminary injunction, though the Ninth Circuit has not set oral arguments.
The dispute leaves Nexstar’s proposed expansion legally frozen even after the Federal Communications Commission approved the transaction on March 19 and waived its rule limiting a broadcaster’s reach to 39% of U.S. households. The Justice Department did not challenge the acquisition.
Nunley ruled April 17 that the states and DirecTV were likely to prevail on their antitrust claims, finding that consumers could suffer irreparable harm if Nexstar integrated Tegna before a trial. The ruling was preliminary and did not resolve the merits of the lawsuit.
The combined company would control nearly 260 full-power television stations reaching about 80% of U.S. households. Nexstar and Tegna would have market shares of at least 30% in 31 overlapping local markets and more than 50% in 16 of them, according to the court record.
Rhode Island has not joined the 13-state coalition, and the Providence-New Bedford market has not been identified among the 31 overlapping markets. The state nevertheless has a direct connection to the case through Nexstar’s ownership of WPRI and the broadcaster’s role in negotiating fees for programming carried by cable, satellite and streaming distributors.
DirecTV contends that the acquisition would give Nexstar greater leverage to demand higher retransmission fees, the payments distributors make to carry local stations. Nunley found “ample evidence” that those costs are passed to consumers.
Nexstar has argued that the deal is needed to compete with large technology and streaming companies and that the FCC’s approval commits it to expanding local journalism and programming. “The alternative to this deal is not more independently owned outlets — it’s the demise of your local broadcast station,” the company said.
The attorneys general contend the acquisition would instead reduce competition, increase consumer prices and weaken local journalism. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office is leading the challenge, said concentrated broadcast ownership produces “fewer voices, less competition” and deprives communities of local journalism’s check on power.
The judge rejected Nexstar’s contention that federal regulatory clearance displaced the antitrust challenge, writing that the FCC was “not given the power to decide antitrust issues.” Nunley also said FCC action was not intended to prevent federal courts from enforcing antitrust laws.
A separate consolidation fight has also stalled Paramount’s proposed $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Twelve states sued July 13 to block that transaction, and U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguin issued a temporary order preventing the companies from closing or integrating their operations.
Unlike Nexstar, which is fighting to integrate a transaction it says has already closed, Paramount has agreed not to acquire Warner until June 1, 2027, or five days after the lawsuits are resolved if that occurs first. Nexstar’s more immediate deadline is July 28, when its response to the disputed Tegna board appointments is due.