Labor Unions and Media Justice Groups File Petition Urging the FCC to Reject Nexstar’s Proposed Takeover of Tegna

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, a coalition of media-justice groups and labor unions petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to deny the merger of Nexstar Media Inc. with TEGNA Inc. 

The filed petition is available here (PDF). 

The petition to deny the transfer of broadcast licenses from TEGNA to Nexstar was filed by Free Press, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians—Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA), The NewsGuild—Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA), the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Public Knowledge. In their filing the petitioners state that the merger would result in an illegal broadcast conglomerate, exceeding the 39-percent audience-reach “National Cap” set by Congress. 

“Though Nexstar and TEGNA seek a waiver of this limit, the commission is prohibited by law from waiving, altering, or eliminating this National Cap,” write the petitioners, adding that because the agency “is legally barred from granting applicants’ request to waive the National Multiple Ownership rule, the Commission should immediately deny those waiver requests and deny the application in full.”

In November 2025, Nexstar filed an application with the FCC seeking agency approval to acquire Tegna’s broadcast licenses. If approved, the multibillion-dollar deal would combine the nation’s largest television-station conglomerate with its fourth largest. Nexstar controls more than 200 owned or partner television station stations in 116 local U.S. markets. The combined entity, if allowed, would have 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, present in 132 of the country’s 210 television Designated Market Areas (or DMAs). 

The deal would also violate the FCC’s remaining local-ownership limit in 30 markets — and in some, would leave Nexstar in control of three of the Big 4 network-affiliated stations. As with other merger requests before the agency, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is likely to demand Trump-friendly concessions as a condition of his agency’s blessing of any deal.

The National Cap bars any full-power broadcast television station owner from reaching more than 39 percent of U.S. households. But even under the agency’s anachronistic accounting methodology for calculating this figure, Nexstar would reach over 60 percent of the country should the unlawful merger go through. 

“Nexstar has been licking its chops at the prospect of this merger-friendly FCC willing to ignore the law and bend the rules to create a massive broadcast conglomerate,” Free Press Vice President of Policy and General Counsel Matt Wood said. “While Nexstar executives trumpet the so-called synergies of such a merger, we know what that means: newsroom layoffs as the new bosses seek to leverage economies of scale. These cuts come from distant corporate headquarters of companies that are local broadcasters in name only. They lead to less original local news competition, worse coverage, and less viewpoint and ownership diversity.”

“Our members have seen time and time again what happens when owners of broadcast entities merge,” NABET-CWA president Charlie Braico said. “In the service of Wall Street profits, newsrooms shrink, workers lose jobs, wages decline, and local news suffers. Communities rely on quality local news for information on emergencies, weather — and maybe most importantly, for politics. When we starve our newsrooms, we weaken our local communities and our democracy. Nexstar announced this merger before the FCC had even changed the ownership rules. If this merger is approved and the national cap is waived, we can expect many more announcements like this one. It will create an unprecedented shift in this country and dramatically change the broadcasting industry for the worse.” 

“North America’s journalists oppose the Nexstar takeover of TEGNA, just as we successfully opposed the hedge-fund takeover of TEGNA in 2023,” NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss said. “Consolidation means local job cuts and less news coverage. Americans deserve more news right now when our free press is under attack, not less.”

“Combining two of the largest TV conglomerates into one company is bad for everyone. In today’s environment, we need more local journalists covering everything from the federal government to large corporations,” said Cheryl A. Leanza, policy advisor for the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry. “Core issues of importance to the United Church of Christ cry out for more coverage. Issues from treatment of immigrants, LGBTQ people, and people of color, to the impact of local data center placement on the environment all require more attention by journalists and the people who rely on them. The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry will continue to bring the voices of the most impacted to the halls of the federal government in support of justice. These members cannot live out their faithful obligation to love their neighbor as themselves without news and information about their local communities. This merger will make that faithful obligation harder.”

“Local television stations are licensed to serve their communities, not to generate maximum returns for distant corporate owners,” Public Knowledge Legal Director John Bergmayer said. “Importantly, the FCC lacks authority to approve this transaction. Congress set the national ownership cap at 39 percent of television households, and only Congress can change it. The agency cannot repeal a statutory limit through a waiver or a rulemaking, no matter how much the industry dislikes the rule. Nexstar’s application simply asks the FCC to do what the agency cannot lawfully do. The FCC should apply the public interest standard as Congress intended and deny the application.”

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