Local TV's chokehold makes newspapers look competitive
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The 10 largest owners control 75% of local commercial TV newsrooms, according to a new report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
- By comparison, the 10 largest newspaper owners control less than a quarter of all local newspapers.
Why it matters: Increased consolidation in local broadcast news could mean fewer journalists covering communities, more duplicated newscasts and fewer choices for viewers, said Tim Franklin, a Medill professor who founded its Local News Initiative.
State of play: The report includes, for the first time, the total number of distinct TV newsrooms nationwide (678), rather than just stations.
- The distinction avoids double-counting stations that share a newsroom and broadcast the same news coverage.
- Researchers at the University of Delaware have previously found content duplication in 39% of U.S. TV markets in 2019.
Between the lines: Given that context, the pace of local TV newsroom closures is notable.
- Medill's report found that at least 10 local TV newsrooms disappeared through mergers so far in 2026.
- If Nexstar's $6.2 billion takeover of Tegna is allowed to proceed, it would combine two of the four largest broadcast owners. The report notes that 33 of Tegna's 48 newsrooms overlap geographically with Nexstar operations, creating opportunities for further consolidation.
Zoom out: The FCC's decision to waive the broadcast ownership cap, combined with increased economic pressure, could drive a new wave of consolidation that will further shrink the number of local TV newsrooms, the report's co-author Zach Metzger noted.
- "This is an election year, which helps mitigate some of the other revenue losses. But things are getting tight financially in the local TV news business, and that's contributing mightily to consolidation in the industry," said Franklin.
The big picture: The Medill study has for years tracked the rapid closure of local newspapers in America. Each year, the rate of closures gets worse.
- In the past year, 170 local newspapers closed or merged, nearly three per week. That's up from 148 in the previous year's report, which amounts to a roughly 15% increase in the pace of losses.
- About 425 newspapers changed hands, per the report, a signal of how volatile the industry has become as it faces increased revenue pressure from rising print costs. Newsprint costs are up around 18% nationally, per the researchers, about five times the rate of inflation.
Reality check: The report notes that newspaper closures are increasingly hitting small, independent owners, not the giant chains that drove earlier waves of consolidation.
- Less than 10% of closures in the past year came from the 10 largest newspaper companies. Meanwhile, more than 40% came from midsize private chains and roughly one-third came from smaller independent owners.
What to watch: While there are efforts to fill the local news void with digital upstarts, most of those new newsrooms target cities, not rural communities hit hardest by closures.
The bottom line: "We're seeing the economic disruption that hit newspapers a decade and a half ago now hitting local television in a big way," Franklin said.
