Media Consolidation Tested by Suits on Trump-Backed Nexstar Deal

The Trump administration may have quickly blessed television broadcaster Nexstar Media Group Inc.'s $3.5 billion purchase of Tegna Inc., but lawsuits from eight states and DirecTV seeking to block the deal over antitrust concerns present the latest test case for media consolidation in the US.

One of the biggest concerns is that the Nexstar-Tegna tie-up will homogenize the company’s viewpoint across all of its local news stations and raise prices on program distributors such as DirecTV, said Abiel Garcia, antitrust partner with Kesselman Brantly Stockinger LLP.

“The more networks you own, the more you are going to demand from ...