Nexstar Media Group is buying broadcast rival Tegna, which owns 9News in Denver, for $6.2 billion, in a deal that would help strengthen its local news offerings.
The transaction, if approved, will bring together two major players in U.S. television and the country’s local news landscape. Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide today and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna owns 64 news stations across 51 markets.
In Denver, Nexstar owns Fox31, and Tegna owns NBC affiliate 9News and its sister station KTVD. Nexstar also owns the CBS affiliate in Grand Junction KREX and the Fox station KXRM in Colorado Springs.
“The initiatives being pursued by the Trump administration offer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies that have unchecked reach and vast financial resources,” Nexstar chairman and CEO Perry Sook said in a statement Tuesday. “We believe Tegna represents the best option for Nexstar to act on this opportunity.”
When reports of the possible merger started to publish last week, 9News lead anchor Kyle Clark posted on social media about the possible sale. Clark, who has been a speaker at Colorado Sun events, did not say if he would be staying through the pending transition.
“Journalism is a business full of people with strong convictions. But I think employees in most industries will ultimately share their employer’s values, by choice or by dictate, for better or for worse,” he posted on his social accounts. “I am beyond grateful to have spent the last 18 years working for and with people whose values I admire: speaking truth to power, respecting the intelligence of our community, and understanding that integrity cannot be repurchased once it’s sold.
“The future of broadcasting and journalism is uncertain. But of this I am certain: no day spent in pursuit of the truth and in service of the community is a day wasted. I’m grateful for 18 years worth of days well -spent at 9NEWS. And grateful to do it again tomorrow.”
Nexstar said Tuesday that the deal will also help it give advertisers a bigger variety of local and national broadcast and digital advertising options. Nexstar will pay $22 in cash for each share of Tegna’s outstanding stock.
Critics of local TV consolidation have expressed concern that fewer owners could mean less competition for viewers and advertisers.
The deal could potentially help kick off even further consolidation in America’s broadcast industry. Nexstar, founded in 1996, has itself grown substantially with acquisitions over the past two decades, becoming the biggest operator of local TV stations in the U.S. after it purchased Tribune Media back in 2019.
Nexstar’s purchase of Tegna also arrives amid wider regulatory shifts. Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which will need to give the transaction the green light, has long advocated for loosening industry restrictions. On Aug. 7, the FCC announced that it would be repealing 98 broadcast rules and requirements that it identified as “obsolete, outdated, or unnecessary.”
Some of those rules date back nearly 50 years, the FCC said, and apply to “old technology that is no longer used.” Carr maintained that such provisions no longer serve public interest.
In late July, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also vacated the FCC’s “top four” rule, which has long prohibited ownership of more than one of the top four stations in a single market. The ruling is still subject to a monthslong assessment by the FCC, but could significantly clear the way for future mergers in the industry.
In company earnings calls held in early August, before Tegna and Nexstar publicly confirmed merger talks, both Tegna CEO Michael Steib and Nexstar’s Sook pointed directly to this ruling, and applauded Carr’s deregulation agenda as a whole.
“We believe that deregulation is necessary, important and coming,” Steib said in Tegna’s Aug. 7 call, noting that local broadcasters are “up against big tech competitors who have absolutely no encumbrances in how they compete.”
Beyond their core broadcast TV businesses, both Nexstar and Tegna also boast digital news, mobile app and streaming offerings, all of which have played key roles for the industry as consumers change the way they consume news and other entertainment.
Broadcast TV has been hit particularly hard by “cord-cutting,” with more and more households trading their cable or satellite subscriptions into content they can get via the internet.
The deal is expected to close by the second half of 2026. It still needs approval from Tegna shareholders.
Shares of Nexstar jumped 7.6% in premarket trading, and Tegna’s rose 4.3%.