D.C. Memo: Former Newsmax Host Sean Spicer Backs Nexstar-TEGNA Deal Opposed by Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy
Trump 45’s First Press Secretary Says Abolishing the 39% Cap Allows More Right-Leaning Affiliate Owners to Become More Influential
▪️ DOJ Sends ‘Second Request’ to Nexstar and TEGNA▪️Bipartisan Report: Starklink Belongs in USF Program ▪️Ontario Leader’s Feud with Musk’s Starlink Keeping Thousands Unserved ▪️Comcast’s Bay State Bloodbath After Huge Drop in Cable TV Subs ▪️CAGW Praises Carr on Broadband Labels NPRM ▪️Illinois to End 30-Year Moratorium on New Nuclear Reactors▪️Maine Can Use Just ‘Iconic’ 207 Area Code Until 2050▪️Will Cable One Announce New CEO on Thursday Earnings Call?▪️ NAB Slams Google’s YouTube TV over Blackout of Every ABC Station in U.S.▪️Group Wants House to Kill FCC’s Wi-Fi Hotspots ▪️ FuboTV Reports Mixed Q3
Nexstar: Nexstar Media Group can add a new varsity conservative name to the list opposing Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy’s effort to block Nexstar’s pending deal to acquire fellow TV station owner TEGNA. On Friday, former Trump 45 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called on the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr to scrap the agency’s 39% TV household ownership cap that currently prevents Nexstar CEO Perry Sook from closing on his consolidation play. “By abolishing the FCC’s ownership cap, the Trump administration can allow the opportunity for more right-leaning affiliate owners to become more influential. By buying more stations, they can give conservatives a powerful voice at the broadcast TV table,” Spicer said in an Oct. 31 column in the Daily Caller. “Yet, puzzlingly, some people who should get this point are actually fighting it. Among them is the CEO of Newsmax, a supposed conservative outlet, who warns that lifting the cap ‘would harm local broadcasting TV.’” Spicer was host of the nightly Newsmax show Spicer & Co. from 2020 to 2023. Last Wednesday, former House GOP lawmakers Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Fred Upton (Mich.), and Greg Walden (Ore.) in an article in The Hill, a Nexstar-owned news outlet, called on the FCC to abolish the 39% cap. (More after paywall.)
