FCC approves Nexstar's purchase of Tegna hours after lawsuits sought to block deal

Politics FCC approves Nexstar's purchase of Tegna, creating broadcast giant hours after lawsuits sought to block deal Updated on: March 19, 2026 / 9:37 PM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google The Federal Communication Commission announced Thursday evening that it had approved the $6.2 billion merger of major broadcast station owners Nexstar and Tegna. The move came on the same day that attorneys general in eight states and DirecTV filed separate lawsuits seeking to block the deal, arguing that it will lead to higher prices for consumers and stifle local journalism. The FCC said in a statement announcing its approval that Nexstar's acquisition of Tegna will "enable these broadcast TV stations to counter the growing power that national programmers have amassed in recent years." With the deal, Nexstar will still own less than 15% of television stations in the U.S., the FCC said. In a lengthy social media post marking the approval, FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that Nexstar had agreed to "certain concrete conditions" as part of the deal, including "divesting a number of stations, increasing localism, and affordability steps." In its own statement, Nexstar said that the "transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve," with a company spokesperson adding in an email to CBS News that it would "let the press release speak for itself and will not be making any further comment." But Anna Gomez, the FCC's only Democratic commissioner, blasted the approval, saying in her own statement that the merger creates a "broadcast behemoth" that violates the FCC's National Television Ownership rule. Under that rule, A broadcast owner cannot own television stations that collectively reach more than 39% of all U.S. television households. Nexstar had said the deal would give it a reach of 80%. "This merger was approved behind closed doors with no open process, no full Commission vote, and no transparency for the consumers and communities who will bea...