California attorney general asks judge to block Nexstar-Tegna merger

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California Atty.Gen.

Rob Bonta is asking a judge to unravel Nexstar Media Group’s $6.2-billion acquisition of rival TV station owner Tegna — the latest in a flurry of merger twists.Nexstar announced late Thursday that it had consummated the Tegna takeover — despite a lawsuit that Bonta and seven other Democratic state attorneys general had filed in federal court the previous day.The state officials sued to block the union of the station groups, alleging the new colossus would violate antitrust rules and a federal law limiting broadcast station ownership.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S.District Court in Sacramento.Hours after that filing, the Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau in Washington approved Nexstar’s deal — clearing the way for the nation’s largest TV station group owner to swallow the third-largest station group.

Hollywood Inc.A lawsuit opposes Nexstar’s proposed $6.2-billion deal to acquire Tegna, which would give the merged company 80% coverage of the U.S.The purchase gives Nexstar, which owns KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles, 265 television stations.On Friday, Bonta and the other attorneys general asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to freeze the takeover until a hearing on the matter.“Nexstar/Tegna is not a done deal,” Bonta said Friday in a statement.

“I will not let these corporate behemoths merge without a fight.”It was not immediately clear when a judge might rule on the request for a restraining order.Bonta appeared at a lawmakers’ hearing in Burbank on Friday to explore the impacts of another huge merger: Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros.Discovery.

Bonta’s office has opened an investigation into the Paramount-Warner merger, but Bonta said Friday that no decision has been made on whether he or other attorneys general will seek to block it.For now, he is focused on derail...