{"id":687439,"date":"2026-03-28T08:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T08:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/687439\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T08:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T08:11:14","slug":"judge-pauses-nexstar-tegna-merger-granting-restraining-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/687439\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Pauses Nexstar-Tegna Merger, Granting Restraining Order"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tA federal judge on Friday evening granted a temporary restraining order to halt Nexstar<\/a>\u2018s merger with Tegna<\/a>, a transaction that creates a broadcasting giant with almost 260 stations across the country.<\/p>\n

\n\tU.S. District Judge Troy Nunley sided with DirecTV, which is seeking to block the merger on the claim that it violates antitrust laws. A group of states, including California and New York, also are seeking to sideline the transaction.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his order, Nunley wrote that DirecTV established \u201ca likelihood of success on the merits\u201d on its claim, and that moving forward with the transaction would create \u201cirreparable harm.\u201d Those are two key factors courts weigh in issuing TROs, after which a judge gives a fuller consideration as the legal process plays out. In ordering at least a temporary halt to the merger, the judge wrote that the \u201cprivate benefits Nexstar could obtain by acquiring Tegna are outweighed by the harm to\u201d DirecTV.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis ruling means that Nexstar and Tegna cannot integrate their operations for 14 days, or if he issues another ruling before that. The judge set a hearing for April 7 on whether to issue a preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar and Tegna got the sign off for their merger from the FCC<\/a> and the Justice Department last week. Shortly after that, Nexstar announced that it had closed the transaction. DirecTV had filed its lawsuit less than a day earlier.<\/p>\n

\n\tNexstar has argued that the combination of stations is necessary given the changes in the media landscape, as local advertising has shifted to major tech giants. They contend that the transaction will allow them to make greater investments in local news.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirecTV has warned that the transaction would give Nexstar-Tegna market power to raise the amount of restransmission consent fees distributors have to pay for carrying its stations. Those fees, DirecTV argued, ultimately would be passed on to the consumer.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe judge wrote, \u201cNexstar must permit Tegna to continue operating as a separate and distinct, independently managed business unit from Nexstar, and Nexstar must put measures in place to maintain Tegna as an ongoing, economically viable, and active competitor. Tegna shall have separate management that operates Tegna in the ordinary course consistent with pre-closing practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNewsmax, DirecTV and a group of state broadband and cable groups are challenging the FCC\u2019s approval of the merger in a federal appellate court in Washington. <\/p>\n

\n\tDonald Trump endorsed the $6.2 billion merger last month, and his FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, indicated his support shortly thereafter, even though the transaction was still being reviewed by the agency. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A federal judge on Friday evening granted a temporary restraining order to halt Nexstar\u2018s merger with Tegna, a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":574432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,36555,36397,96194,162069,92028,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-687439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-electionline","tag-fcc","tag-nexstar","tag-nexstar-tegna-deal","tag-tegna","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116305794572850864","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}