▪️E.W. Scripps Rejects Sinclair Merger Offer▪️DIRECTV Wins Antitrust Ruling against Nexstar and Two Sidecars▪️Senate Group Wants Answers from NTIA on $20 Billion in Leftover BEAD Funds▪️Ex-FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson: FCC Can Change 39% Cap▪️ATVA’s Message to FCC: Only Congress Can Change 39% Cap▪️Free State Foundation to Congress: Drop FCC’s Public Interest Standard, Adopt Consumer Welfare Policy▪️MoffettNathanson: Broadband Price War Fears Hurt Cable Stocks in 2025▪️Sen. Capito Running for Re-Election in 2026▪️Newsmax Renews Carriage Deal with YouTube TV▪️Maureen Moore to Fill Consumer Role at GCI with Landes Retirement
Merger: Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and five other Democrats in Congress urged federal regulators to heavily scrutinize Nexstar Media Group’s proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of TEGNA and to block it if it violates telecom or antitrust law.
In a letter Monday to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, Warren, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., warned that “regulatory approval of the conglomerate would likely raise prices for consumers, accelerate job losses, and weaken the independence and news coverage of local TV stations.”
The lawmakers’ seven-page letter addressed in detail none of the issues that Nexstar’s leadership has identified in justifying the merger – such as the ability of local TV stations to expand their reach to sustain local journalism and establish a level playing field to compete more efficiently with Big Tech and Big Media firms that are far wealthier and free from national and local ownership restrictions. (More after paywall.)
