NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Nexstar Media Group is buying broadcast rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, bringing together two major players in U.S. television and the country\u2019s local news landscape. <\/p>\n
If the transaction is approved, Nexstar will pay $22 in cash for each share of Tegna\u2019s outstanding stock. And the regulatory greenlight could be likely under President Donald Trump\u2019s administration, which has long-advocated for loosening industry restrictions.<\/p>\n
Announcing the proposed merger Tuesday, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook pointed directly to actions being pursued by the Trump administration, which he said \u201coffer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies that have unchecked reach and vast financial resources.\u201d He added that \u201cTegna represents the best option for Nexstar to act on this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide today and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna owns 64 news stations across 51 markets.<\/p>\n
Consolidation would mean pooling together all of these resources \u2014 and that typically includes cutting any \u201credundancies\u201d identified in the process, explained Paul Hardart, director of the entertainment, media and technology program at New York University\u2019s Stern School of Business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good news for Nexstar is that makes it run at a lower cost rate, which they need to do because there\u2019s all these headwinds on the revenue side,\u201d Hardart said. But for local communities that rely on the company\u2019s stations, the bad news is that \u201cthere will be a homogenization of content,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Other experts note that previous consolidation in the industry has already shown this.<\/p>\n
Nexstar, founded in 1996, has itself grow substantially with acquisitions over the latest two decades, becoming the biggest operator of local TV stations<\/a> in the U.S. after it purchased Tribune Media back in 2019. And Danilo Yanich, professor of public policy at the University of Delaware, says the company is the \u201cbiggest duplicator\u201d of news content today \u2014 pointing to recent research<\/a> he worked on that looked at how often local TV news used the exact same words in at least 50% on their broadcasts.<\/p>\n Nexstar\u2019s size gives it the most opportunity to syndicate information in this way, Yanich noted, and further duplication seems all but likely as the company looks to \u201cachieve economies of scale,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Nexstar on Tuesday maintained that the deal will also help it give advertisers a bigger variety of local and national broadcast and digital advertising options.<\/p>\n The potential purchase also arrives amid wider regulatory shifts. Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman the Federal Communications Commission, which will need to give the transaction the green light, has long advocated for loosening industry restrictions. On Aug. 7, the FCC announced<\/a> that it would be repealing 98 broadcast rules and requirements that it identified as \u201cobsolete, outdated, or unnecessary.\u201d <\/p>\n Some of those rules date back nearly 50 years, the FCC said, and apply to \u201cold technology that is no longer used.\u201d Carr maintained that such provisions no longer serve public interest.<\/p>\n