In March 2026, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia filed a complaint seeking to enjoin Nexstar’s proposed acquisition of Tenga.  The complaint alleges that Nexstar is the largest local television broadcast company in the United States and Tenga is the third largest.  The complaint states that the merged entity would hold substantial power to raise prices for television consumers and consolidate the ownership of many popular local television stations that compete against each other, resulting in higher retransmission consent fees being charged to multichannel video program distributors such as Comcast, DirecTV, DISH, Verizon or charter.  According to the states’ allegations, the proposed merger would result in Nexstar owning more than one affiliate of the “Big 4” stations (FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS) in 31 Designated Market Areas, including 11 that would impact the plaintiff states.  The complaint also alleges that the proposed merger will likely reduce competition in local news operations by consolidating newsrooms of the Big 4 stations owned by the merged entity, resulting in a degradation of quality.

The complaint brings a claim that the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act.

Shortly after filing their complaint, the plaintiff states also sought a temporary restraining order that would enjoin the defendants from commingling their assets and operations.  In April 2026, the court granted the plaintiff states’ motion, finding that the plaintiffs had established a likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief, that public interest favored a hold-separate order, and that the balance of equities favored plaintiffs’ position.