Attorney General Rayfield, Expanding Bipartisan Coalition of State AGs Challenge Nexstar-Tegna Merger

Attorney General Dan Rayfield alongside a now bipartisan coalition of 12 other attorneys general today filed an amended complaint against Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nexstar) and Tegna Inc. (Tegna) in the ongoing challenge of the broadcast giants' merger. Last month, a state coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the merger of Nexstar and Tegna, and shortly after, the court granted a preliminary injunction halting the merger while litigation in this case proceeds. The $6.2 billion deal is expected to create the largest broadcast station group in the United States, putting more broadcast programming in the hands of fewer people, cutting local jobs, increasing cable bills, and significantly impacting the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.

"Nexstar's CEO has been calling our lawsuit politically motivated - but look who's in this coalition: red states, blue states, states across the map," said Attorney General Rayfield. "That tells you everything. When a company tries to take over 80 percent of American TV households, people don't ask about your political party. They worry about one company controlling what they see and hear."

BACKGROUND

The multibillion-dollar Nexstar/Tegna merger combines the nation's largest and third-largest television-station conglomerates, creating a titan covering 80% of U.S. television households. In Portland, Oregon, Nexstar owns KOIN and KRCW, and this merger would also give them ownership of KGW, owned by Tegna.

Alarmingly, in the weeks leading up to the merger's closing, reports detailed Nexstar's firing of long-standing journalists in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Shortly after the merger was approved, Nexstar's CEO announced during an employee town hall that there would be further job reductions throughout the company.

On March 18, a state coalition of attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block the Nexstar/Tegna merger, and on April 17, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a preliminary injunction halting the merger while litigation in the case proceeds. The preliminary injunction followed a temporary restraining order granted in the challenge brought by DIRECTV. The court has consolidated the states' case with DIRECTV's related case. Defendants appealed the courts' preliminary injunction to the Ninth Circuit and Nexstar's opening brief is due May 20, 2026.

In filing the amended complaint, Attorney General Rayfield joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia.