In a span of roughly 12 hours, the legal team working on behalf of the nation’s largest owner of broadcast television companies engaged in a substantial settlement with one state Attorney General regarding its merger with TEGNA to issuing a late-night statement in response to a confirmation from California’s Attorney General that five of his counterparts have joined his Sacramento-filed lawsuit against TEGNA and Nexstar Media Group — one that yielded a preliminary injunction on April 17, immediately ahead of the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas.
As shared by California AG Rob Bonta, “More states have joined us in our challenge of the Nexstar/Tegna merger, now making this lawsuit a bipartisan effort.” He added that state AGs nationwide “understand how important robust antitrust enforcement is to American life. We welcome our sister states and look forward to fighting alongside them.”
In filing the amended complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Bonta now leads a coalition of 13 AGs, representing Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia.
Word of the amended complaint came just hours after a Memorandum of Understanding between Nexstar and the Ohio AG surfaced via social media. It states that at TEGNA’s WBNS-TV in Columbus and WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Nexstar will preserve the independent newsrooms of two formerly TEGNA-owned TV stations in Cleveland and Columbus until 2031.
NEW: Ohio’s Republican AG announces a deal with Nexstar to preserve the independent newsrooms of two formerly TEGNA-owned TV stations in Cleveland and Columbus until 2031.
Dem AGs are suing to stop fully block the Nexstar (Denver’s FOX31) acquisition of TEGNA (Denver’s 9NEWS). pic.twitter.com/nUPfwBk81Q
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) April 30, 2026
As stated in the MOU, the terms of the agreement between Nexstar and the Ohio AG end on December 31, 2030.
As the 9pm Pacific hour approached, a Nexstar spokesperson issued a statement on behalf of the company founded by Perry Sook three decades ago:
By aligning with private equity-backed DIRECTV, these misguided attorneys general are strangling local journalism – the most trusted source of independent, fact-based news available to Americans. The AGs, none of whom has a track record of advocating for local media, would do well to understand the industry they purport to protect. They should also recognize the binding commitments Nexstar has made to increase the amount of local news coverage in many markets, including today’s settlement with the Ohio Attorney General. And they should be far more wary of the real drivers of the decline of local news: the unchecked rise of Big Tech platforms, the spread of misinformation on social media, and the economic pressures that have already led to widespread newsroom closures. Tellingly, none of them appeared on local broadcast news to discuss this issue, but their social media posts were immediate.
In today’s media landscape, multi-billion-dollar technology companies compete directly with local broadcasters while facing none of the same ownership, reach, or size constraints, putting untenable pressure on the economic model that supports local news. The alternative to this deal is not more independently owned outlets – it’s the demise of your local broadcast station.
