Judge issues temporary restraining order on Nexstar, Tegna merger

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced on X Friday night that the judge in the state’s case challenging the Nexstar (NXST)-Tegna merger issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the companies from merging. On April 7, the judge will consider the request to bar the merger “while we make our case to stop it permanently,” Weiser added. U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley sided with DirecTV, which claimed that Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna would “drive up the price it can extract from DirecTV and other distributors,” bring layoffs and reduce competition. DirecTV established “a likelihood of success on the merits” on its claim, and that moving forward with the transaction would create “irreparable harm,” the judge wrote. Eight states sued to block the merger in a separate filing on the same day as DirecTV’s.