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Nexstar ready to hook up with TEGNA?

Mediafrog+ said:
That may be wishful thinking. So far this merger has had far less turbulence than the ultimately scuttled Standard General deal. I think we’d be seeing more red flags if it was in deep trouble.
Click to expand...
What’s less turbulent about this deal? Heck even Brendan Carr’s boss said yesterday to pay him no mind
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
Update New York, Virginia, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, North Carolina, and Connecticut joins California in the lawsuit against Tegna and Nexstar.
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Here is the press release from Connecticut's attorney general.
portal.ct.gov

Attorney General Tong Files Lawsuit to Block Nexstar and Tegna Merger

Merger would create a media giant covering 80% of U.S. television households
portal.ct.gov

Also, here is the press release from New York's attorney genera.
ag.ny.gov

Attorney General James Sues to Stop Nexstar-Tegna Merger

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today joined a coalition of seven other attorneys general in suing to stop the merger of Nexstar Media Group
ag.ny.gov ag.ny.gov
 
KUSA/9News Denver's lead anchor, Kyle Clark, is playing it fairly cool. A couple of video excerpts follow:

bsky.app

Kyle Clark (@kylec.bsky.social)

The Trump administration has approved the acquisition of 9NEWS' parent company, TEGNA, by Fox31's parent company, Nexstar. Nexstar issued a statement praising President Trump, who says the deal will "help knock out the Fake News." Nexstar has declared itself "the anti-fake news"
bsky.app bsky.app

bsky.app

Kyle Clark (@kylec.bsky.social)

Viewer feedback on the acquisition of 9NEWS by the parent company of Fox31
bsky.app bsky.app

That said, I think it's fairly well understood that 9News' aggressive journalism is going to take a hit with any kind of merger into Fox31 (KDVR)'s much more passive, time-filling approach to news.

Another note of possible interest: at present, KUSA's main program is simulcast on a KTVD subchannel (as "9.4"). KTVD broadcasts on UHF, giving it better reception in some situations compared to KUSA's VHF signal. If KTVD is divested as a result of the merger, KUSA may no longer have that UHF boost available.

(edited to fix second link; original version wasn't the correct link)
 
Mark Roberts said:
That said, I think it's fairly well understood that 9News' aggressive journalism is going to take a hit with any kind of merger into Fox31 (KDVR)'s much more passive, time-filling approach to news.
Click to expand...

Local TV doesn't usually spend much time on national news. That's how they avoid being labeled "fake news."

The question will be how much they become like Sinclair in terms of mandating national reports from a central site to force an ideology.
 
Mark Roberts said:
Nexstar says it has closed on the acquisition.

www.nexstar.tv

Nexstar Media Group, Inc., Closes Acquisition of TEGNA Inc. | Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Company Receives Approval of Transaction from Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice IRVING, TX (Mar. 19, 2026)—Nexstar Media
www.nexstar.tv www.nexstar.tv
Click to expand...
Woah if thats the case there's delays for Nexstar to close one of their buildings to get news staff in one spot like San Diego and Sacramento where Tegna and Nexstar had separate offices prior to the merger. Yes I am referring to the California AG lawsuit directed at Nexstar and Tegna over the merger.
 
TheBigA said:
Local TV doesn't usually spend much time on national news. That's how they avoid being labeled "fake news."
Click to expand...
Today, any national news they do have comes from their network affiliation. For example, Tegna's KVUE in Austin was using one or two ABC network reports every night on its 10 pm cast when I watched while in the area. KUSA in Denver typically doesn't incorporate NBC reports at 6 or 10 because it has a lot of local material to squeeze in already. They will use network reports earlier in the day on occasion.

But all that leads to....

TheBigA said:
The question will be how much they become like Sinclair in terms of mandating national reports from a central site to force an ideology.
Click to expand...
There are really two questions in there. How much coverage will be "nationalized" using a feed from Nexstar rather than the network with which a station is affiliated? (The corollary there is a shift from local news content to national news content.) And how much of that coverage will have a political slant?

Those two questions lead to yet a third question. If the mega-chains can set up their own newsfeeds, and use them instead of traditional network newsfeeds, then what role is left for the traditional network news organizations?

It could also kill local broadcast news altogether, and is likely to kill local enterprise journalism.
 
Mark Roberts said:
There are really two questions in there. How much coverage will be "nationalized" using a feed from Nexstar rather than the network with which a station is affiliated? And how much of that coverage will have a political slant?
Click to expand...

Take a look at Sinclair for your answer.

What its led to is some people objecting to being force fed conservative news. But all that does is put another nail in broadcast TV.

Mark Roberts said:
Those two questions lead to yet a third question. If the mega-chains can set up their own newsfeeds, and use them instead of traditional network newsfeeds, then what role is left for the traditional network news organizations?\
Click to expand...

That's up to them to reinvent themselves. But my take on this is that it leads to the death of traditional networks. Especially as those companies invest more in streaming and less in network programming. Look at what happened to radio networks.
 
nomadcowatbk said:
Could they demand less for retrans fees in the places where news depts are combined?
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Generally, when there is a duopoly in a market, the retrans fees take into account both stations. But I never heard of a station owner asking to reduce those fees when they come up for renewal ...
 
TheBigA said:
Take a look at Sinclair for your answer.
Click to expand...

Nexstar has made at least some pretense at being less overtly ideological.
TheBigA said:
What its led to is some people objecting to being force fed conservative news. But all that does is put another nail in broadcast TV.
Click to expand...
Especially with a right-wing administration that has positioned itself badly for the upcoming midterms. Pretty hard to distract attention from a dollar-a-gallon jump in gas prices.
 
TheBigA said:
But my take on this is that it leads to the death of traditional networks. Especially as those companies invest more in streaming and less in network programming. Look at what happened to radio networks.
Click to expand...
There will be change, but I think it will be the inverse of what happened to radio networks. Radio networks gradually shed entertainment programming until becoming basically a national news service with some sports from time to time. How it may play out in broadcast TV is the gradual diminuation of news programming until what's left is all entertainment. Note, for example, that the Fox broadcast network has very little national news programming (though, yes, it does have newscalls for its O&Os) and never has had much of it.

Not that I want this to happen, but I don't think the outlook is good for the NBC, CBS, or ABC news organizations, despite their best efforts.
 
so with that, WFAA is officially once again owned by a company based in North Texas, but this time, they might not be the flagship due to the fact that Nexstar owns Tribune flagships WGN, WPIX and KTLA, which all are in the top 3 markets.

also this gets us closer to "State Run media" and i wouldn't be surprised if part of how this merger got approved is Trump demanded he get some investment on the merged company post merger so he can control the media like all dictators do.
 
TheBigA said:
It will all move to PBS and various streaming channels.
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If they can afford it.

I shouldn't discount the efforts of local public radio stations, but not all of them have the resources to do this kind of thing. And some are more inclined to go for long features. For example, in theory, Colorado Public Radio could pick up the slack from 9News. They do have some resources. But its locally-produced news programs are like what you would have heard on NPR in the 1980s. They're very featurish and not much inclined toward the type of accountability journalism that 9News has been so expert at doing. I don't hold out hope for PBS member stations to be doing that type of journalism at the local level, either.
 


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