It was the gossip topic of choice ahead of Super Bowl LX on Sunday afternoon. After expressing statements that suggested he wasn’t fond of the combination of the nation’s largest single owner of broadcast television stations with the company formerly known as Gannett, President Trump took to his own social media website to offer a change of heart.
The Commander-in-Chief on Saturday, via Truth Social, urged the FCC and other government regulatory bodies to grant all necessary waivers — ahead of potential deregulation of the broadcast TV industry — and allow Nexstar Media Group to complete its transformative merger with TEGNA.
The $6.2 billion deal, which will likely be the focus of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing tomorrow morning on Capitol Hill, has been the focus of heavy lobbying by a said confidant of President Trump — Newsmax CEO and majority owner Chris Ruddy.
Ruddy is on the witness list, although some have questioned in private if he has standing, given Newsmax is a MVPD-distributed channel and has no broadcast TV properties among its holdings. Still, his words could carry some sway among those against the merger on Capitol Hill while the cable television industry actively conducts its own anti-deal antics on the grounds that it would potentially lift retransmission consent fees it already disdains to even higher levels.
Until Saturday, what Ruddy plans to state tomorrow was believed to carry much weight with President Trump, and by proxy FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
That all changed with the post below:
We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks. Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar – Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level. Those that are opposed don’t fully understand how good the concept of this Deal is for them, but they will in the future. GET THAT DEAL DONE! PRESIDENT DJT
In typical Trumpian style, his beef with the broadcast television networks is at the heart of his concerns that has led the FCC under Carr to bring the public interest doctrine to the forefront when it comes to what Democrats and Commissioner Anna Gomez have slammed as censorship and content regulation.
And it also seems that while Nexstar controls The CW Network and the NewsNation cable and digital news operation, both are outside of the “Fake News National TV Networks” category for the Commander-in-Chief.
A CHANGE OF HEART?
What led President Trump to change his tune just three days before one of the most important Senate hearings on broadcast television ownership regulations in 23 years?
That’s not clear. But what can be seen without obstruction is how the president’s viewpoint on issues that he believed were linked to the Nexstar/TEGNA deal shifted in just over two months. On November 23, Trump shared on Truth Social an editorial from Ruddy appearing on the Newsmax website warning regulators not to approve the merger.
If this would also allow the Radical Left Networks to “enlarge,” I would not be happy. ABC & NBC, in particular, are a disaster – A VIRTUAL ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY. They should be viewed as an illegal campaign to the Radical Left. NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS. If anything, make them SMALLER! President DJT
It now seems that the Nexstar/TEGNA deal would, in Trump’s mind, not impact the size of ABC, NBC and CBS — all targets of the Trump Administration and the Daniel Suhr-led Center for American Rights, the group responsible for triggering FCC reviews of potential “news distortion” across the three broadcast TV networks.
VIOLATION CITATION
A pair of Colorado legislators united on Saturday to blast President Trump’s switcheroo on the Nexstar/TEGNA deal.
Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse and Senator Michael Bennet argue that the Nexstar-TEGNA merger “violates federal law and the national broadcast ownership cap, and gives corporate owners greater control over programming and the framing of local news coverage.”
Speaking of the Truth Social post, they said in a joint statement, “Donald Trump backed a media merger that will have devastating consequences for local news in Colorado and for American journalism writ large. By designating news outlets he dislikes as ‘the enemy,’ Trump has continued his baseless attack on reporters who devote their careers to investigating those in power and holding them to account. This administration’s ongoing effort is an attempt to obscure the clear abuses being perpetrated by the president and his allies, while depriving communities across the country of reliable, accessible local news. It is precisely why we fought against this reckless and illegal merger last year. We will continue doing everything we can to oppose this dangerous erosion of one of the most essential pillars of our democracy.”
The Colorado lawmakers have been leading an effort to block this merger.
In October 2025, Neguse and Bennet penned a letter to FCC Chairman Carr imploring the Commission to put community interest over corporate profit and reject the merger.
TRUMP BUMP ON WALL STREET
What impact did President Trump’s endorsement of the Nexstar-TEGNA proposed merger have on U.S. financial markets?
In pre-market trading Monday, Nasdaq-traded Nasdaq shares hit a record high of $225 — marking a 46% year-over-year gain in share value.
For TEGNA, the NYSE-traded company stock reached $20.01, rising 4.9% in pre-market trading. That’s good for a 6% year-over-year gain.
