ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL SECURES VICTORY WITH NEXSTAR/TEGNA MOTION

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL SECURES VICTORY WITH NEXSTAR/TEGNA MOTION

August 07, 2026

Court Rebukes Nexstar for "Brazen" Violation of Tegna Injunction

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a coalition of 12 attorneys general secured a court order granting their motion on Thursday, finding that Nexstar Media Group Inc. (Nexstar) violated the court's order requiring it and Tegna Inc. (Tegna) to remain separate.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California found that Nexstar is violating the preliminary injunction by putting current or former Nexstar executives on Tegna's board of directors. The court also ordered monthly reporting and directed the parties to propose procedures for ongoing third-party compliance monitoring, potentially through a special master. If Nexstar is allowed to fully integrate Tegna, the companies would form the largest broadcast station group in the United States, reaching 80% of U.S. television households. That consolidation is expected to put more broadcast programming in the hands of fewer people, cut local jobs, increase cable bills and significantly impact the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.

"Despite a court order requiring Nexstar and Tegna to remain separate, Nexstar stocked Tegna's board with its own current and former executives, effectively beginning the merger in violation of that order," Raoul said. "I am pleased the court ordered monthly reporting and independent third-party monitoring to hold Nexstar to the court's order. I am committed to continuing to fight this unlawful takeover that will immeasurably damage consumers and independent local news across the country."

The challenged multibillion-dollar merger involves the nation's largest and third-largest television-station conglomerates. In Illinois, concerns are especially real. In the Quad Cities, Nexstar already controls the CBS- and FOX-affiliated stations while Tegna owns the ABC-affiliated station. And in the St. Louis market - which includes 14 counties in southwestern Illinois - Nexstar already owns the FOX- and CW-affiliated stations, while Tegna owns the NBC-affiliated station. In the Chicago market, Nexstar reportedly cut newsroom and on-air staff at WGN-TV before the merger closed, raising serious concerns about what more consolidation could mean for local journalism across the state. Reports also detailed Nexstar's firing of longtime journalists in Los Angeles and New York in the weeks before the merger closed.

A trial in this case is scheduled for July 6, 2027.

Joining Raoul in filing the lawsuit challenging the merger of Nexstar and Tegna are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia.