HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday and a coalition of attorneys general have filed a lawsuit to unwind and remedy the anticompetitive effects of Nexstar’s recent acquisition of TEGNA. Nexstar and TEGNA are two major media companies and their merger could cut consumer options by creating the largest broadcast station group in the country.
Attorney General Sunday and the coalition, in a complaint filed Thursday, allege that the merger violates antitrust law by essentially eliminating broadcast TV options for consumers.
Additionally, Attorney General Sunday alleges in the complaint, the merger would increase costs for consumers.
”Pennsylvanians have been declaring that enough is enough when it comes to rising TV service subscription costs that are already stretching budgets — and this merger would only push those budgets closer to breaking points,” Attorney General Sunday said. “Along with my colleagues on the lawsuit, I am advocating for a market that offers diversity in local TV options for news, sports, and other programming. Competition benefits Pennsylvanians who want to have choice and not be subjected to higher costs.”
Nexstar is currently the country’s largest local television broadcasting group, controlling more than 200 stations in 116 U.S. markets reaching 220 million people. TEGNA is the nation’s third-largest broadcasting group, controlling 64 television stations in 51 different media markets.
If the merger is not undone, 31 media markets across the country where Nexstar and TEGNA each own competing stations — including in central and northeast Pennsylvania — would see diminished competition.
In Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre media markets currently have broadcast TV options from Nexstar and TEGNA. These stations are WPMT, the FOX affiliate, in the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York television market, and WNEP, the ABC affiliate, in the Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazleton television market.
This transaction enabled Nexstar to re-acquire Pennsylvania stations that it had sold to TEGNA as part of a government settlement to address competitive concerns involving its 2020 Nexstar/Tribune Media merger.
The coalition argued in their lawsuit that the Nexstar-TEGNA merger would significantly eliminate competition among local affiliates of the “Big Four” networks – ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX.
The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice approved the sale in March, prompting objection from a coalition of states. A federal judge recently ordered that the merger be paused, and the companies be prohibited from combining assets, pending litigation.
Joining Attorney General Sunday on the First Amended Complaint are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia.
Read the complaint HERE.
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