May 01, 2026 09:34 AM UTC

Nexstar Purchase of Tegna Earns New Bipartisan Opposition

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• by: Colorado Pols

There’s more good news to report today on new opposition to Nexstar Media Group’s purchase of Tegna, a move that is supported by President Trump as part of a broader campaign to weaken media outlets that dare question the Dear Leader. As we’ve discussed in this space for months, Nexstar would almost certainly shutter 9News in Denver and run Fox 31 News programming instead.

As Brian Stelter reports for CNN, two Republican Attorneys General have joined a broad coalition of AGs pushing back against Nexstar’s attempted merger:

The state-level antitrust lawsuit that halted Nexstar’s takeover of Tegna was initially filed by a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general. But now the closely-watched suit has bipartisan backing.

Republican state AGs jn Indiana and Kansas have joined the filing, and so have two more Democratic state AGs in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

The additions allowed California AG Rob Bonta, who’s leading the coalition against the broadcast TV megamerger, to say last night that “this is not controversial stuff,” citing the “bipartisan effort” as proof.

More states means more resources and maybe more leverage to get concessions out of Nexstar — or stop the merger together. [Pols emphasis]

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser was an early joiner of the lawsuit filed to stop Nexstar from taking over Tegna.

The Nexstar deal for Tegna went through in late February, after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr greased the wheels in 2025 by pushing to eliminate longtime restrictions 0n allowing one company to own and operate multiple news stations in the same local market. A few weeks ago, a federal judge halted the proposed merger pending the outcome of antitrust lawsuits.