TOPEKA – (April 30, 2026) – Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach today announced that he joined a lawsuit challenging television broadcasting company Nexstar Media Group’s acquisition of Tegna.

 “This merger would increase prices of television services for Kansas consumers. The resulting lack of competition will drive up prices. We also are concerned about the reduction in the diversity of viewpoints,” Kobach said. “These aren’t Republican or Democratic issues. They are American issues.”

In an amended complaint filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Kobach and a bipartisan coalition alleged that the merger between Nexstar and Tegna violated federal antitrust law prohibiting mergers that substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly that will limit consumer options and drastically increase the prices consumers pay for various television services.

The multibillion-dollar Nexstar/Tegna merger combines the nation’s largest and third-largest television-station conglomerates, creating a titan covering 80% of U.S. television households. In Kansas, Nexstar owns seven television stations that operate in the state’s designated market areas.

 Last month, a state coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the merger of Nexstar and Tegna, and shortly after, the court granted a preliminary injunction halting the merger while litigation in the case proceeds. The $6.2 billion deal is expected to create the largest broadcast station group in the United States, putting more broadcast programming in the hands of fewer people, cutting local jobs, increasing cable bills, and significantly impacting the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.

 In filing the amended complaint, Attorney General Kobach joins the state coalition which includes the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia.