How the Nexstar-Tegna deal reshapes Indy's TV market
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Nexstar, the largest local broadcast group in America, has agreed to acquire Tegna, the fourth-largest local broadcaster, in an all-cash deal valued at $6.2 billion.
Why it matters: The merger would create the largest local broadcast company in the country by far, and put three Indianapolis news channels under a single owner.
The big picture: The acquisition will be a litmus test for the Trump-era Federal Communications Commission, which will ultimately decide whether a merger of this magnitude should be approved.
- FCC chair Brendan Carr has long advocated for repealing decades-old local broadcast consolidation rules.
- The Biden administration opposed this type of consolidation, killing Tegna's $5.4 billion attempt to combine with Standard General in 2023.
- Barring any forced divestitures, the company would span 265 local TV stations across 132 of the country's 210 television designated market areas.
Zoom in: Nexstar already owns Indianapolis stations Fox 59 and CBS 4, and the Tegna acquisition would also put them in control of local NBC affiliate WTHR.
- In a LinkedIn post, Fox 59 and CBS 4 news director CJ Hoyt said the move is designed to help Nexstar compete against digital outlets that don't face the same regulations as local TV station owners.
- "We don't know how this will impact Indianapolis as I already run a CBS and a FOX and I'm not sure they'd want to have three of the big four affiliates under one roof in a market this large," he wrote.
Threat level: Former WTHR marketing producer Heath Benfield told IndyStar the deal could lead to layoffs, noting that he saw it happen in 2019 when Nexstar assumed control of Fox 59 and CBS 4 in its $4.1 billion acquisition of Tribune Media.
- Benfield, who worked at a Tribune news station in New York at the time, said the deal is "symptomatic of an industry that was too slow to adapt to the changes of the market and refused to get in line with new technologies."