A federal judge in California on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that keeps Nexstar Media group separate from Tegna Inc. for another week, as he weighs a possible injunction that would keep the two companies apart while an antitrust lawsuit proceeds.
Lawyers for eight states and DirecTV are asking Chief U.S. District Judge Troy A. Nunley to allow their combined antitrust suit against Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc. to continue, and to force the two companies to remain separate entities while the case proceeds. They argued in court Tuesday that the merger is bad for competition, bad for local journalism and will lead to raised prices for cable and satellite subscribers across the country.
As part of the ruling, Nunley outlined multiple modifications to the TRO after hearing arguments from lawyers for Nexstar Media Group, eight attorneys general and DirecTV in a three-hour hearing, part of which was closed to the public to consider proprietary issues.
Christopher Beall, a media and copyright law professor at the University of Denver, read Friday’s ruling to mean the judge is leaning heavily toward issuing an injunction that would keep the companies separate.
“If he was not going to issue a longer injunction, he could have just let the TRO expire today by its own terms,” Beall said.
Among the modifications outlined, Nexstar will be allowed to “undertake ordinary-course cash management.” The ruling puts Tegna in control of all contracts involving retransmission consent contracts and gives Nexstar the ability to manage the debt it took on to complete the transaction.
The ruling also outlines how Nexstar should proceed to “maintain Tegna’s day-to-day operations” by appointing or reappointing officers to run the company.
The judge was clear to outline how Nexstar can further distance itself from the day-to-day operations of Tegna by stating Nexstar should not “appoint current Nexstar employees, or former employees employed within the prior six months, as Tegna officers and no Tegna officer shall be an officer of Nexstar.”
The merger could have widespread impact on the Denver television market if allowed to proceed. Nexstar Media Group wanted to combine KDVR Fox31 and KUSA 9News, two of the top stations in the market.
The Department of Justice signed off on the merger in March, after Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr granted a waiver of its broadcast ownership rule that caps how many stations a company can own to 39% of the national audience. The merger would give Nexstar 80% of the national TV audience.
The extension for the TRO is seven days and did not ask for or authorize more filings in the case.