TOPEKA – (August 10, 2026) – A U.S. District Court sided with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general ruling that actions by Nexstar Media Group and Tegna violated a court order.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California found that Nexstar violated a preliminary injunction by putting current or former Nexstar executives on Tegna's Board of Directors. Judge Troy Nunley ordered Nexstar to remove its employees from Tegna’s Board of Directors.
“As Attorney General, I have consistently opposed mergers that hurt Kansas consumers,” Kobach said. “This case not only threatened to increase prices for Kansans who subscribe to cable and other TV services, it also narrowed the diversity of viewpoints expressed in local news.”
The District Court ordered the companies to provide regular reporting to the states. The court also ordered that a special master be appointed to oversee compliance with the preliminary injunction. A Nexstar/Tegna merger is expected to create the largest broadcast station group in the United States, put more broadcast programming in the hands of fewer people, cut local jobs, increase cable bills, and significantly impact the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.
ABOUT THE LAWSUIT:
The Nexstar-Tegna antitrust lawsuit challenges Nexstar Media Group, Inc.’s approximately $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna Inc. Nexstar, already the largest U.S. local television station owner, acquired Tegna (the third-largest at the time), in a merger deal that closed in March, after clearances from the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. The FCC clearance included a waiver of a regulatory 39% national household-reach cap. The combined entity would control roughly 265 stations across 44 states and the District of Columbia, reaching a substantial majority of U.S. households.
Kobach and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general allege that the merger will lessen competition in local TV markets, eliminating diversity of viewpoints on air and raising costs for consumers. If allowed to proceed, this multibillion-dollar deal would combine the nation’s largest and third-largest television-station conglomerates, creating a titan covering 80% of U.S. television households. Alarmingly, in the weeks leading up to the merger’s closing, reports detailed Nexstar’s firing of long-standing journalists in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Trial in this case is scheduled for July 6, 2027.
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