DIRECTV files lawsuit to block Nexstar, Tegna merger

DIRECTV said it filed a federal antitrust lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, alleging that the proposed merger between Nexstar (NXST) and Tegna (TGNA) “violates the federal antitrust laws and would significantly harm consumers.” The complaint asserts “that the proposed merger – which combines the nation’s largest and second-largest English-language broadcast station groups – represents a concentration of broadcast media without precedent, and will irreparably drive up consumer costs, reduce local competition, shutter local newsrooms, and increase both the frequency and duration of blackouts of key local teams and network programming. DIRECTV’s lawsuit is available upon request.”