Two months and one week ago, just hours after the Department of Justice and the FCC each granted their respective regulatory approvals, a monumental rule-busting merger seemingly reached the finish line. Nexstar Media Group, already the nation’s No. 1 owner by TV station count, had closed on its merger of TEGNA.
Then the court challenges came. Sacramento-based Chief U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley issued a preliminary injunction preventing TEGNA from being anything to Nexstar but a “hold separate” entity, which Nexstar is appealing to the Ninth Circuit. Meanwhile, the D.C. Circuit is the venue where Nexstar’s legal team has argued the court lacks jurisdiction as the full FCC hasn’t yet voted on a decision made under delegated authority by the Media Bureau.
As the court challenges continue, TEGNA’s status as an independently run organization has now been addressed. There’s now a successor to Mike Steib, and it is an individual who spent years under Jack Abernethy.
Taking the role of TEGNA’s Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, is Patrick Paolini.
If that name sounds familiar, it is because Paolini is a FOX Television Stations veteran, serving as its Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales since 2023.
Once onboard at TEGNA, Paolini will be responsible for the Nexstar unit’s daily operations, as well as “revenue-generating business strategies, local journalism and production, and growth initiatives.”
Importantly, Paolini will report directly to TEGNA’s Board of Directors and not to Nexstar CEO Perry Sook or to Michael Biard, Nexstar’s President and Chief Operations Officer.
As such, he will, in a way, hold a role not so dissimilar to that of Mission Broadcasting President Dennis Thatcher, who runs the variable interest entity whose financials are rolled into that of Nexstar each fiscal quarter.
A FOXY APPOINTMENT
“Patrick is an ideal choice to lead TEGNA,” the company’s Board of Directors in a collective statement issued by TEGNA and distributed by Nexstar. “He brings deep expertise in the broadcast television industry, major-market station management, and high-quality local news, along with a proven track record of driving revenue growth across linear and digital platforms. He is an innovative thinker and a proven leader with an established history of success. We look forward to Patrick’s leadership of this great company.”
Paolini has been associated with FOX Television Stations since October 2000, when he relocated from Western New York to Tampa Bay to take the role of VP/Sales for WTVT “FOX 13” in Tampa-St. Petersburg. Before that, he was VP/General Sales Manager of WIVB-TV in Buffalo under LIN Broadcasting; today the CBS affiliate is a Nexstar property.
Starting his career in 1990 as an Assistant Media Buyer for Horizon Media, Paolini officially began his time in broadcast TV as an account executive at WBRE-TV and WYOU-TV in Wilkes Barre-Scranton, in 1991. This was prior to Nexstar’s first acquisition in 1996, of WYOU-TV.
From there, Paolini served as an AE for WVIT-30 in Hartford under Paramount Broadcasting ownership; and as Local Sales Manager for WRGB-6 in Albany-Schenectady-Troy. He’d join LIN in November 1996 with a role as National Sales Manager for WTNH-8 in Hartford-New Haven, and in June 1997 transfer to WIVB.
At Fox, Paolini quickly rose through the ranks and in late 2001 became VP/GSM of WTTG-5 in Washington, D.C., spending six years in the National Capital Region. In November 2007, he headed north to New York, becoming VP/Director of Sales for WNYW-5 and WWOR-9. In September 2009, Paolini relocated again by becoming General Manager of WTXF-29.
In September 2011, Paolini rose to the corporate ranks as a Sr. VP, and in July 2013 returned to Washington as Sr. VP/GM of WTTG-5 and WDCA-20, a role he’d hold for the next decade until earning his most recent role at FTS.
“I am honored to be joining TEGNA,” said Mr. Paolini. “I have tremendous respect for the TEGNA brand, for the outstanding local news delivered across its 64 local television stations and hundreds of digital platforms, and for the company’s dedicated employees and local journalists. TEGNA will remain committed to providing the exceptional service our viewers, advertisers, and communities expect, while continuing to innovate and expand across the platforms that define the modern media landscape. I am excited by the opportunities ahead.”
TEGNA TAKES?
What those opportunities exactly are already the subject of speculation. For example, could TEGNA step in and acquire properties that present regulatory questions for Nexstar, resolving legal challenges to its FCC-approved and DOJ-approved merger?
If so, all eyes could be turned to South Florida and Detroit, where fresh affiliation agreements with The CW Network are reportedly heading into negotiation mode. In these markets, CBS properties — WBFS-33 in Miami and WKBD-50 in the Motor City — have deals that are set to end come September 1. With Paramount Skydance eagerly seeking to complete its Warner Bros. Discovery merger, it is believed that CBS under David Ellison will not wish to keep The CW affiliations at these stations, put in place after The E.W. Scripps Co. said no in these markets.
This sets up an intriguing scenario, as TEGNA could step in and acquire WADL-TV in Detroit and give The CW a home in the market, as Adell Broadcasting originally intended to sell the station to Mission Broadcasting but was denied by the Rosenworcel Commission over ownership concentration concerns today no longer a concern to the FCC. In Miami, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) is still seeking a buyer for its WSBS and LPTV siblings that are the local broadcast home for its “Mega TV” operation, which continues despite a failed sale to VOZ Media.
A Nexstar spokesperson declined to comment on The CW’s future in Detroit when contacted by RBR+TVBR last week. TEGNA has not immediately responded to RBR+TVBR‘s request for comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, Nexstar shares were down by roughly 1.4% in midday trading for U.S. financial markets on Tuesday, at $186.07 per share. That puts “NXST” back to where it was in mid-April, before a jump into the low $210 per share range.
