In a move that surprises absolutely no one who has ever tried to find a second opinion in this town, Nexstar Media Group has officially closed its $6.2 billion acquisition of TEGNA. The FCC and DOJ gave the deal a thumbs-up this week, effectively creating a broadcast Godzilla that now controls local news in roughly 70% of American households. Because if there’s one thing the Hub City needs, it’s more “local” content produced by a boardroom in Irving.
To make this happen, the FCC had to perform some impressive mental gymnastics to waive a rule that—on paper—forbids a single company from reaching more than 39% of the country. Nexstar is now sitting pretty at 60%, but FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says this “promotes diversity.” I assume he means a diverse range of ways to watch the same syndicated segments. Our friends over at EverythingLubbock (a Nexstar joint) are naturally thrilled, quoting their CEO who says this is “essential to sustaining strong local journalism.” That’s billionaire-speak for “we’re going to synergize these newsrooms until the only thing ‘local’ left is the weather guy’s tie.”
Not everyone is buying the “stronger together” routine. Eight states filed a last-minute lawsuit to block the merger, arguing it’ll kill competition and lead to massive layoffs. DirecTV is also suing, worried that Nexstar will use its new Hulk-sized leverage to hike prices or just black out your favorite channels whenever they feel like a shakedown. But hey, the deal is closed, the rules are waived, and the “fake news” is officially consolidated.
It’s a classic Lubbock-style success story: why have options when you can have one giant, inescapable entity running the show? It worked for our electricity bills, so I’m sure it’ll work wonders for the 6:00 PM news.
Are you excited to see the exact same “Consumer Alert” segment on every single channel, or should we just wait for the inevitable cable bill hike to tell us how to feel?
