CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today, as part of a bipartisan coalition of 11 attorneys general, filed an amended complaint against Nexstar Media Group Inc. (Nexstar) and Tegna Inc. (TEGNA) in the ongoing challenge of the broadcast giants’ merger.
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Last month, Raoul and seven attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging the merger of Nexstar and TEGNA, a deal that 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. Today, the coalition welcomes five more states to the lawsuit, now making it a bipartisan coalition.
“I applaud my colleagues in Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont for joining our fight against this illegal merger between Nexstar and TEGNA,” Raoul said. “This bipartisan coalition is even stronger as we fight to keep lower prices for consumers in Illinois and across the nation without jeopardizing competition in local news or cutting jobs in newsrooms, because all consumers should have access to the diverse ideas represented in independent newsrooms.”
Soon after the filing of the coalition’s lawsuit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a preliminary injunction halting the merger while litigation in this case proceeds.
If allowed to go forward, 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.
In Illinois, these concerns are especially real. In the Quad Cities, Nexstar already controls the CBS- and FOX-affiliated stations while TEGNA owns the ABC-affiliated station. And in the St. Louis market – which includes 14 counties in southwestern Illinois – Nexstar already owns the FOX- and CW-affiliated stations, while TEGNA owns the NBC-affiliated station. In the Chicago market, Nexstar has already reportedly cut newsroom and on-air staff at WGN-TV in anticipation of the merger, raising serious concerns about what more consolidation could mean for local journalism across the state.
Joining Raoul in filing the amended complaint, are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia.
