Nexstar TEGNA

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  • The FCC’s Media Bureau released a Public Notice purporting to remind broadcasters about their lowest unit charge (LUC) obligations for
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The unusual story of the sale of TEGNA Inc. has seemingly (more on that below) come to an end after a four-year FCC review process, encompassing two attempted purchases, two administrative actions involving multiple rule waivers and novel questions of law, but no rulings by the Commissioners themselves. On Thursday, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued an order approving the transfer of control of the company to Nexstar Media and the deal was closed by the parties that same day.  Today, we look back at the unusual actions leading to the sale of TEGNA and at what last week’s approval may preview as to major changes ahead for the broadcast industry .

The unusual nature of the sale of TEGNA did not start with last week’s decision but instead began in 2022 when TEGNA first announced its plan to be acquired by Standard General.  After an application seeking approval for that sale was filed, objections were submitted from labor organizations, public interest groups, and representatives from the multichannel video provider community.  Despite divestiture plans to bring Standard General into compliance with the FCC’s television ownership rules, in 2023, the FCC’s Media Bureau, after a full year of consideration, decided that it could not reach a decision on the case, but that the case had to be reviewed by an FCC Administrative Law Judge to hold a hearing to decide two issues – neither of which had ever been the source for the rejection of a broadcast sale in the past. 

Continue Reading FCC Media Bureau Approves Nexstar’s Acquisition of TEGNA – What Does It Mean for Consideration of the Broadcast Ownership Rules? 
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  • The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing titled “We Interrupt This Program: Media Ownership in the Digital Age.”  Testimony at
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In the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to meetings of several broadcast organizations about important pending issues at the FCC and, unfortunately, had to cancel my planned appearance at the TVOT (TV of Tomorrow) conference in New York City where I was to have talked about the same issues.  In any such conversation, probably the most talked about issue is the potential change in the broadcast ownership rules.  Comments are due to be filed in the FCC’s Quadrennial Review of media ownership on Wednesday (December 17).  We recently explored the radio issues to be considered, and they are relatively straightforward – should the FCC retain or significantly modify the local radio ownership rules?  But I am finding that there is some confusion about the TV rules. The comments due on Wednesday address only the local TV ownership rules, but potential changes in the national rules are also being considered in a separate proceeding, and changes in both are needed to allow some of the pending transactions to go forward (like the Nexstar-TEGNA deal).  We thought that we would explore the TV issues in this article.

The national ownership caps were set by Congress and prohibit broadcast owners from holding an interest in TV stations reaching more than 39% of the national television audience (though, in practice, the real limit is much higher as the audience of UHF television stations, which are now the majority of stations, still count as half that of VHF stations, the dominant transmission standard in 2004 when the 39% cap was adopted by Congress – see our article here on the UHF discount).  The local TV ownership rules which currently limit any owner from having attributable interests in more than 2 TV stations in any market, are considered by the FCC in Congressionally mandated Quadrennial Reviews of the local ownership rules.  A waiver of both of these mandates, or a change in the rules themselves, is necessary before a deal like that proposed by Nexstar can be approved.  Is that likely to happen?  There are many issues to consider.

Continue Reading The Limits on Ownership of Over-the-Air Television Stations – Looking at the Two FCC Proceedings that Could Change the Rules
  • The FCC’s Media Bureau announced that the deadline for broadcasters to comply with the new foreign sponsorship identification requirements has
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