Do you have anything to share with the FCC regarding the proposed acquisition of TEGNA by Nexstar Media Group? Your opportunity to share your party’s views on the blockbuster deal via an ex parte filing with the Commission has opened.
A pleading cycle is now in effect for applications to transfer control of TEGNA Inc. to Nexstar, the proceeding formally known at the Commission as “MB Docket No. 25-331.”
This means that specific and strict dates in the pleading window have been codified:
Petition to Deny Date: December 31, 2025
Opposition Date: January 15, 2026
Reply Date: January 26, 2026
The FCC on December 1 accepted for filing all applications tied to the proposed transfer of control of TEGNA’s broadcast assets to Nexstar, which is already the nation’s largest single owner of broadcast TV stations.
With a 39% national ownership reach cap presently in effect per a Congressional mandate and up for a forthcoming second look by the FCC, Nexstar has a bit of a hurdle to achieve without running risk of paying upward of $150 million in termination fees, should the regulatory OK fail to come from Washington.
Post-Transaction, Nexstar would serve 54.5% of the national audience. With confidence that the 39% cap will be changed to a much higher percentage or erased altogether by the Commission under Brendan Carr, Nexstar seeks a waiver of the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule.
Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gómez said such a waiver won’t get her approval; Chairman Carr indicated he’s largely undecided on the matter.
Helping Nexstar is the Eighth Circuit’s decision to kill the Commission’s “Top Four Prohibition,” which will permit common ownership of two television stations in the same designated market area (DMA) without restrictions. Some 23 DMAs will see duopolies emerge, should the deal get the FCC’s approval.
