Trump Endorses Nexstar-Tegna Merger, And FCC Chair Agrees

Donald Trump gave his endorsement to Nexstar’s proposed merger with Tegna, a transaction that would create a broadcast giant reaching 80% of TV households.

On Truth Social, Trump wrote, “We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks. Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar – Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level. Those that are opposed don’t fully understand how good the concept of this Deal is for them, but they will in the future. GET THAT DEAL DONE! PRESIDENT DJT”

The $6.2 billion deal would give Nexstar 265 stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, representing 80% of U.S. TV households, far larger than any other station group. But Nexstar needs waiver from the FCC, given a current ownership cap that limits entities from amassing stations that cover more than 39% of the country.

The FCC is currently reviewing the merger, and is taking steps toward reconsidering or lifting the cap. But Brendan Carr, appointed chairman of the FCC by Trump, responded to Trump’s post with a message of approval.

Carr wrote on X, “President Trump is exactly right. The national networks like Comcast & Disney have amassed too much power. For years, they’ve been pushing this Hollywood & New York programming all over the country with no real checks. Let’s get it done and bring real competition to them.”

Trump’s endorsement comes after he expressed concerns last year over lifting the ownership cap — something that has been a goal of Nexstar, Sinclair Broadcast Group and the broadcast lobby, the National Association of Broadcasters. Interest groups have run ads in the D.C. market for and against the merger and lifting the cap, with some spots seemingly aimed directly at the president. One spot from Keep News Local touts the Nexstar-Tegna merger as a transaction that can “defeat fake news for good,” with those superimposed over a photo of Trump.

Newsmax, led by a friend of the president’s, Chris Ruddy, has urged the FCC to reject the Nexstar-Tegna merger. Ther argument: The merger will merely create more big media at the expense of localism. Nexstar also argues that the FCC doesn’t have the authority to waive the 39% cap; only Congress does.

Ruddy wrote in a recent filing to the FCC, “Beyond violating ownership rules, Nexstar’s dominance of these highly concentrated markets would allow it to control the voices heard on local news and to demand higher retransmission fees for non-broadcast providers to access its stations’ content.”

Newsmax said in a statement, “President Trump was right in November when he called for smaller networks and for keeping TV ownership caps to limit massive broadcast consolidation. The Nexstar deal means dangerous consolidation that will limit competition, harm conservative voices and dramatically increase consumer cable bills. We hope the president will reconsider his position.”

Nexstar and Sinclair were the two station groups that pulled ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live after his comments on a show in September over the reaction to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Amid a warning from Carr that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” ABC pulled the show for several days, but restored him to the airwaves in the face of a backlash. Nexstar and Sinclair restored Kimmel after about a week.

Ruddy will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday at a hearing in support of the 39% cap.

Nexstar CEO Perry Sook and President Michael Biard defended the pulling of Kimmel, writing in a memo to employees, “No one has an unlimited right to say whatever they want on a talk show. Every network and station has made tough calls when on-air conduct crosses a line. That isn’t a violation of the First Amendment — it’s an exercise of editorial responsibility and stewardship of the public airwaves.”

As Nexstar sought approval for the merger with Tegna, its news channel, NewsNation, has added a nighttime host from the right to its line up, Katie Pavlich, with Trump as a guest on her second and third nights. The addition of Pavlich’s opinion show diverged from the channel’s initial brand as a non-biased news outlet. NewsNation has yet to add a counterpart from the left.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Broadcasters has been pushing for the lifting of the ownership cap, while offering generally low key responses to First Amendment concerns that have been raised by a number of Carr’s actions. And while the NAB has typically fought against additional regulatory burdens on broadcasters, it has not made any statement on Carr’s crackdown on the FCC’s equal time rule. The rule requires that stations that feature political candidates on their airwaves provide equal time to rivals. News and news event programming have been exempt from the rule and, up until recently, talk shows have operated under the assumption that they, too, were exempt. But Carr’s FCC recently issued guidance that talk programming shouldn’t assume that they are not be exempt, and may be on the hook to provide equal time. That potentially impacts TV shows like ABC’s The View and Kimmel, but also radio talk hosts on the right, like Sean Hannity and Hugh Hewitt.

Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of NAB, also will testify at the Senate hearing on Tuesday.