California, New York and six other states filed a lawsuit late Wednesday seeking to block television station owner Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion takeover of rival company Tegna, arguing the tie-up violates federal antitrust laws.
“When broadcast media is owned by a handful of companies, we get fewer voices, less competition, and communities lose the critical check on power that local journalism delivers,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release.
In filing the suit, Bonta and New York Attorney General Letitia James were joined by the attorneys general of Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, North Carolina, Connecticut and Virginia.
Nexstar and Tegna did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the legal coalition’s filing.
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has said he supports the proposed deal. “Let’s get it done,” Carr wrote in a Feb. 7 post on X.
But completing the merger would require changing a federal rule that bars a single
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