With Chief U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley’s pending decision on whether to grant a preliminary injunction against Nexstar Media Group and TEGNA, liking siding with DirecTV and eight state Attorneys General in prohibiting the companies from fully combining their assets on the grounds the FCC didn’t abide by Congressionally mandated rules, the Chairman of the FCC has stated that not only is the merger acceptable, but so is Erin Boone‘s approval as Media Bureau Chief, granted on delegated authority.
Brendan Carr offered his comments on the Nexstar-TEGNA deal approval process in identical letters sent April 13 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that serve as a response to their March 30 formal request to answer a series of questions pertaining to the Media Bureau’s granting of waivers and subsequent affirmative nod to the rule-busting Nexstar-TEGNA merger.
The letters on Thursday (4/16) were then submitted into the docket in Case No. 26-1065, Free Press, et al v. FCC, which is being heard by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Counsel James Carr submitted the letters, in which Carr thanked Cruz, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman, for his letter regarding the Nexstar-TEGNA transaction.
In the inquiry letter from Cruz and Cantwell, the Senators ask about the FCC’s authority to have the Media Bureau issue the March 19, 2026 decision giving Nexstar the green light to merger with TEGNA, rather than proceeding with an initial vote at the full Commission level.
Carr’s reply? “The Media Bureau, like other components of the FCC, has longstanding authority to waive FCC rules,” as he cited 47 CFR § 1.3, which states “the FCC may waive its rules ‘where particular facts would make strict compliance with a rule inconsistent with the public interest.’”
As to the national ownership regulation, Carr then states that the full Commission has previously addressed this rule on several occasions—including in votes under both Republican and Democratic agency leadership. “In those full Commission votes, the full Commission made clear that the 39% rule is an FCC rule, rather than a statutory limit,” Carr said.
In particular, he refers to a 2016 Report and Order in MB Docket No. 13-236. In it, the R&O states:
We conclude that the Commission has the authority to modify the national audience reach cap . . . We find that no statute bars the Commission from revisiting the cap . . . in a rulemaking proceeding so long as such a review is conducted separately from a quadrennial review of the broadcast ownership rules pursuant to Section 202(h) of the 1996 Act. The CAA simply directed the Commission to revise its rules to reflect a 39 percent national audience reach cap and removed the requirement to review the national ownership cap from the Commission’s quadrennial review requirement. It did not impose a statutory national audience reach cap or prohibit the Commission from evaluating the elements of this rule. Thus, the Commission retains authority under the Communications Act to review any aspect of the national audience reach cap.
That, Carr added, is consistent with the 2002 D.C. Circuit decision in Fox Television Stations v FCC. Explaining the decision, he noted, “There, the court found that a previous FCC ownership limitation— which, like the current one, was expressed by Congress in statute as a percentage limitation—did not operate as a statutory cap, but instead as an agency rule that could be changed or modified by the agency.”
Therefore, Carr concluded, “Given that the full Commission has made clear that the national ownership cap is an FCC rule and not a statutory limit, the Media Bureau had the legal authority to waive that rule.”
Turning to the local ownership rule, this was not the first time that the Media Bureau waived that regulation. Indeed, the Media Bureau recently approved a waiver of the local television ownership rule allowing DuJuan McCoy-owned Circle City Broadcasting to own three television stations in the Indianapolis market, making ABC affiliate WRTV-6 a sibling to The CW Network-aligned WISH-8 and MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-23.
But, isn’t the size of the Nexstar-TEGNA transaction something that should have involved a full Commission vote? No, Carr replied, citing Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s time at the helm. In September 2025, the Wireline Competition Bureau under delegated authority approved a $10.5 billion Verizon-Frontier deal; a May 2026 WCB decision allowed a $17.7 billion acquisition of Cablevision by Altice to proceed undaunted.
Under Ajit Pai’s Chairmanship, the Media Bureau approved the Media General-Nexstar merger; the Raycom Media-Gray Television combination; and Cox Media Group by “Terrier Media” in an Apollo Global Management-driven investment agreement, Carr added.
Lastly, under Carr’s Chairmanship, “much larger deals, in terms of dollar value, were approved on delegated authority in the non-broadcast space, including Charter’s acquisition of Cox, a deal valued at $34.5 billion; and Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier, a deal valued at $20 billion.”
Carr commented, “On a going forward basis, my own view is that the FCC should operate consistent with the statute, agency rules, and FCC case law. That will continue to guide and constrain agency decisions—operating as a limiting principle.”
The Chairman also addressed Cruz and Cantwell’s query regarding the use of delegated authority to block transactions. He replied, “In my time as Chairman, the FCC has not blocked a large transaction without a Commission vote. This represents a departure from the agency precedent set during the Biden years.”
Lastly, the question of whether or not Boone’s decision is final was laid to rest. It is not, as an emergency application for review was filed March 20 by the Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania.
Given the Commission leadership and 2-1 majority that persists for a five-member agency, that AFR’s success is as likely as disgraced now-former California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell running for U.S. President a second time. Nonetheless, Carr’s comment further strengthens his assessment that Nexstar and TEGNA did everything by the book.
As the D.C. Circuit weighs that, all eyes are now turned on Judge Nunley’s Sacramento-based court for what will transpire next for the nation’s largest owner of broadcast TV stations even without the TEGNA assets.
