Nexstar Media Group buying Tegna in deal worth $6.2 billion

NEW YORK — Nexstar Media Group is buying broadcast rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, bringing together two major players in U.S. television and the country's local news landscape. If the transaction is approved, Nexstar will pay $22 in cash for each share of Tegna's outstanding stock. And the regulatory greenlight could be likely under President Donald Trump's administration, which has long-advocated for loosening industry restrictions. Announcing the proposed merger Tuesday, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook pointed directly to actions being pursued by the Trump administration, which he said "offer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies that have unchecked reach and vast financial resources." He added that "Tegna represents the best option for Nexstar to act on this opportunity." Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide today and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna owns 64 news stations across 51 markets. Consolidation would mean pooling together all of these resources — and that typically includes cutting any "redundancies" identified in the process, explained Paul Hardart, director of the entertainment, media and technology program at New York University's Stern School of Business. "The good news for Nexstar is that makes it run at a lower cost rate, which they need to do because there's all these headwinds on the revenue side," Hardart said. But for local communities that rely on the company's stations, the bad news is that "there will be a homogenization of content," he added. Other experts note that previous consolidation in the industry has already shown this. Nexstar, founded in 1996, has itself grow substantially with acquisitions over the latest two decades, becoming the biggest operator of local TV stations in the U.S. after it purchased Tribune Media back in 2019. And Danilo Yanich, professor of public policy at the University of Delaware, says the company is the "biggest duplicator" of news content today — pointing to recent research he worked on that looked at how often local TV news used the exact same words in at least 50% on their broadcasts. Nexstar's size gives it the most opportunity to syndicate information in this way, Yanich noted, and further duplication seems all but likely as the company looks to "achieve economies of scale," he added. Nexstar on Tuesday maintained that the deal will also help it give advertisers a bigger variety of local and national broadcast and digital advertising options. The potential purchase also arrives amid wider regulatory shifts. Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman the Federal Communications Commission, which will need to give the transaction the green light, has long advocated for loosening industry restrictions. On Aug. 7, the FCC announced that it would be repealing 98 broadcast rules and requirements that it identified as "obsolete, outdated, or unnecessary." Some of those rules date back nearly 50 years, the FCC said, and apply to "old technology that is no longer used." Carr maintained that such provisions no longer serve public interest. In late July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit also vacated the FCC's "top four" rule, which has long prohibited ownership of more than one of the top four stations in a single market. The ruling is still subject to a monthslong assessment by the FCC, but could significantly clear the way for future mergers in the industry. In company earnings calls held in early August, before Tegna and Nexstar publicly confirmed merger talks, both Tegna CEO Michael Steib and Nexstar's Sook pointed directly to this ruling, and applauded Carr's deregulation agenda as a whole. "We believe that deregulation is necessary, important and coming," Steib said in Tegna's Aug. 7 call, noting that local broadcasters are "up against big tech competitors who have absolutely no encumbrances in how they compete." Beyond their core broadcast TV businesses, both Nexstar and Tegna also boast digital news, mobile app and streaming offerings, all of which have played key roles for the industry as consumers change the way they consume news and other entertainment. Broadcast TV has been hit particularly hard by "cord-cutting," with more and more households trading their cable or satellite subscriptions into content they can get via the internet. "The challenge has been recently of 'cord cutters' — but the bigger concern is the 'cord nevers,' of people who grew up never watching television, or linear television," said Hardart, noting that most consumers, particularly young people, have just about all the content they want on social media or their phone. Despite these shifting landscapes, experts like Yanich say the suggestion that tech players "could do what local journalism does simply doesn't hold up," pointing to the difference in content and reach. Still, he notes that other broadcasters could soon follow Nexstar and Tegna's footsteps, consolidating the industry even further. Nexstar's proposed purchase of Tegna is expected to close by the second half of 2026. Beyond the regulatory greenlight, it still needs approval from Tegna shareholders.