The Nexstar-Tegna transaction is exactly the kind of pro-growth, common-sense deal that Washington should welcome, not bury under a mountain of legal briefs, bureaucratic tricks and political posturing.
These two companies are major owners of local television stations.
For years, America’s local broadcasters have been buffeted by forces far bigger than any one broadcast group: Big Tech, streaming giants, social media platforms, cord-cutting, cable fragmentation and the steady siphoning of advertising dollars from local outlets. The old world of three networks, a handful of local stations and a captive evening news audience has long gone the way of the dinosaurs.
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Local television is not active in a sheltered village these days. It competes in a global, fiercely competitive market.
That’s why the deal between Nexstar and Tegna is important.
This is not just any media merger. It is a test of whether policymakers understand the real economy – or whether they remain trapped in a regulatory museum, fine-tuning rules written for a media world that no longer exists.
Nexstar has argued that acquiring Tegna would strengthen local journalism by giving stations more resources, better technology, stronger programming capabilities and the scale needed to compete. CEO Perry Sook has said the combined company would be positioned to deliver strong local journalism and local programming with enhanced resources, capabilities and talent.
Translated from business lingo to plain English, newsrooms need money, people, cameras, technology and staying power. Scale delivers those things. Don’t starve.
Still, several attorneys general, along with DirecTV, tried to block the transaction, darkly warning that Nexstar would gain too much influence in local television markets. This argument has the stale smell of 1985, or even 1955. It falls apart the moment you look at the way Americans actually consume information today.
Local broadcasters do not only compete with the broadcaster in the city. They compete with Google, Meta, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, TikTok, Apple, podcasts, cable channels, newsletters, satellite providers and a tsunami of digital content that never stops.
That’s the marketplace. Not theory. No nostalgia. Reality.
The 39% cap on national television ownership is a relic. It belongs in the same storage closet as rotary phones, rabbit ear antennas and three-martini lunches. It was designed for an era of television that is over. Applying it rigidly today is like regulating cars with horse-and-buggy rules.
The Federal Communications Commission was right to recognize that broadcasters need room to maneuver. In today’s market, scale is not the enemy of competition. Scale is the oxygen that keeps local journalism alive.
The Trump administration has rightly placed growth, deregulation and the clearing of bureaucratic barnacles at the heart of its economic philosophy. This deal fits perfectly within that agenda. It allows an American media company to adapt, invest and compete rather than punishing it for trying to survive.
Blocking this transaction would not maintain competition. It would weaken local broadcasters just when they need muscle. It would make it harder for stations to fund reporters and deliver investigative stories, weather coverage, emergency alerts and community programming that national media rarely offer, and Big Tech certainly doesn’t produce.
Local news is not a luxury good. It’s civilian infrastructure.
It tells families when storms are coming, when schools are closed, when roads are dangerous, when crime is increasing, when local officials are wasting taxpayer dollars and when communities are in crisis. When local newsrooms shrink, corruption takes a holiday. Citizens receive less information. The needs of the community become easier to ignore.
Therefore, this debate must be judged on the basis of the public interest, and not on the self-interest of competitors or the political ambitions of headline-grabbing attorneys general.
DirecTV’s role in opposing the deal deserves special attention. DirecTV is a large national distributor with its own commercial agenda. The lawsuit should not be confused with a noble crusade for local journalism. More likely it is about leverage, bargaining power and protecting one’s own margins. Companies are free to fight for their interests. But regulators and courts should not confuse a competitor’s complaint with the national interest.
The irony is rich. Opponents claim they want to protect local news. Still, their position would make it harder for local broadcasters to compete with the much larger digital and streaming giants that are eroding the local journalism economy.
The dodo bird reasons of the merger opponents are consistent with the “thinking” that led Washington to torpedo the merger of JetBlue and Spirit Airlines in 2022. We all know that Spirit is bankrupt today, and is nothing more than begging for a government bailout.
That is not consumer protection. That is economic malpractice.
The Nexstar-Tegna transaction provides a path to stronger local stations, more sustainable newsrooms and an opportunity to continue fighting for community journalism. It reflects the harsh truth of modern media: companies need size, capital and technological prowess to survive in a market dominated by global platforms and deep-pocketed streamers.
Washington should not cling to yesterday’s rules while today’s local newsrooms disappear.
The Administration understands that America thrives when industries are allowed to modernize, consolidate where necessary, and compete with the true giants of the modern economy. This is one of those moments. Supporting the Nexstar-Tegna transaction would send a clear message: America will not allow outdated regulations and political litigation to stand in the way of necessary adjustment.
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Local journalism is too important to be sacrificed on the altar of regulatory nostalgia.
The choice is stark. Let broadcasters build the scale they need to survive – or watch more local newsrooms go dark.
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