更新于：2026年3月19日 / 美国东部时间晚上9:37 / CBS/美联社
美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）周四晚间宣布，已批准主要电视台所有者Nexstar与Tegna之间价值62亿美元的合并交易。这一举措与八个州的总检察长和DirecTV当天提起的单独诉讼同日发生，这些诉讼试图阻止该交易，理由是这将导致消费者支付更高价格并扼杀地方新闻业。
FCC在宣布批准的声明中表示，Nexstar对Tegna的收购将”使这些广播电视台能够对抗近年来全国性节目供应商积累的日益增长的影响力”。
FCC称，完成交易后，Nexstar在美国拥有的电视台比例仍不到15%。
FCC主席布伦丹·卡尔（Brendan Carr）在一条冗长的社交媒体帖子中称，Nexstar已同意在交易中遵守”某些具体条件”，包括”剥离若干电视台、加强本地化内容、以及采取价格管控措施”。
Nexstar在其声明中表示，”这笔交易对于维持我们服务社区的强大地方新闻业至关重要”，该公司发言人在给CBS新闻的电子邮件中补充称，”让新闻稿自行说明情况，我们不会再做进一步评论”。
但FCC唯一的民主党委员安娜·戈麦斯（Anna Gomez）猛烈抨击这一批准，她在自己的声明中表示，此次合并将形成一个”广播巨兽”，违反了FCC的《国家电视所有权规则》。根据该规则，广播所有者不能拥有覆盖全美超过39%电视家庭的电视台。而Nexstar曾表示，交易完成后其覆盖范围将达到80%。
戈麦斯表示：”这次合并是在闭门会议中批准的，没有公开流程，没有全委员会投票，也没有向将承担后果的消费者和社区公开透明。”
Nexstar去年8月宣布已达成以62亿美元收购Tegna的协议。此次交易将创建一家在40个州和哥伦比亚特区拥有265家电视台的公司，其中大多数是ABC、CBS、福克斯和NBC的地方 affiliate 台。
Nexstar辩称，该交易将使其能够更有效地与资金更雄厚的传统媒体公司和大型科技公司竞争。
然而，周四在加利福尼亚州萨克拉门托美国联邦地区法院提起的州诉讼中，八位民主党总检察长认为，该交易将带来代价。该诉讼由加利福尼亚州、科罗拉多州、康涅狄格州、伊利诺伊州、纽约州、北卡罗来纳州、俄勒冈州和弗吉尼亚州的最高法律官员提起。DirecTV也在同一法院提起了单独诉讼。
纽约州总检察长莱蒂西亚·詹姆斯（Letitia James）周四表示：”如果这项合并推进，纽约及全国消费者的有线电视价格将飙升。”
DirecTV在声明中称：”Nexstar收购Tegna的目的是提高从DirecTV和其他分销商那里榨取的价格，这将迫使他们提高订阅用户费用。”
CBS新闻已联系FCC就诉讼请求置评。
州律师们表示，该合并将违反旨在防止垄断的联邦法律。这还将需要修改限制单家公司可拥有电视台数量的联邦规则，尽管卡尔一直主张放宽这些限制。
今年2月，特朗普总统支持了这一合并，他在社交媒体上写道：”我们需要更多的竞争来对抗敌人——虚假新闻国家电视网。”
去年秋天，Nexstar曾强硬要求其ABC电视台停播晚间主持人吉米·坎摩尔（Jimmy Kimmel），因为他对被暗杀的共和党活动家查理·柯克（Charlie Kirk）发表了评论，这一度导致迪士尼暂停坎摩尔的节目。但在公众强烈抗议后，ABC让坎摩尔复播，而Nexstar最终退让。
鉴于Nexstar倾向于在拥有多个电视台的社区合并新闻编辑部，两项诉讼均担忧此次合并将损害本已举步维艰的地方新闻业。根据诉讼，全美有31个市场中Nexstar和Tegna各自至少拥有一家电视台。
詹姆斯表示：”当地方新闻编辑部相互竞争报道新闻时，我们所有人都会受益。”
总检察长们表示，他们愿意接受其他州的支持——即使这些州的首席法律官员是共和党人。
FCC approves Nexstar’s purchase of Tegna, creating broadcast giant hours after lawsuits sought to block deal
Updated on: March 19, 2026 / 9:37 PM EDT / CBS/AP
The Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday evening that it had approved the $6.2 billion merger of major broadcast station owners Nexstar and Tegna. The move came on the same day that attorneys general in eight states and DirecTV filed separate lawsuits seeking to block the deal, arguing that it will lead to higher prices for consumers and stifle local journalism.
The FCC said in a statement announcing its approval that Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna will “enable these broadcast TV stations to counter the growing power that national programmers have amassed in recent years.”
With the deal, Nexstar will still own less than 15% of television stations in the U.S., the FCC said.
In a lengthy social media post marking the approval, FCC Chair Brendan Carr said that Nexstar had agreed to “certain concrete conditions” as part of the deal, including “divesting a number of stations, increasing localism, and affordability steps.”
In its own statement, Nexstar said that the “transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve,” with a company spokesperson adding in an email to CBS News that it would “let the press release speak for itself and will not be making any further comment.”
But Anna Gomez, the FCC’s only Democratic commissioner, blasted the approval, saying in her own statement that the merger creates a “broadcast behemoth” that violates the FCC’s National Television Ownership rule. Under that rule, a broadcast owner cannot own television stations that collectively reach more than 39% of all U.S. television households. Nexstar had said the deal would give it a reach of 80%.
“This merger was approved behind closed doors with no open process, no full Commission vote, and no transparency for the consumers and communities who will bear the consequences,” Gomez said.
Nexstar had announced last August that it had reached an agreement to buy Tegna for $6.2 billion. The deal will create a company that owns 265 television stations in 40 states and the District of Columbia, most of them local affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
Nexstar has argued the deal would allow it to compete more effectively with richer legacy media companies and Big Tech.
But in Thursday’s lawsuit by the states, filed with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento, California, the eight Democratic attorneys general argued that it would come with a price. The action was filed by the top lawyers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Virginia. DirecTV filed a separate case in the same court.
“If this merger moves forward, cable prices will spike for consumers in New York and across the country,” said Letitia James, New York attorney general, on Thursday.
“Nexstar’s purpose in acquiring Tegna is to drive up the price it can extract from DirecTV and other distributors, which will force them to raise prices to their subscribers,” DirectTV said in a statement.
CBS News has reached out to the FCC for comment on the lawsuits.
The state lawyers argued the merger would run afoul of federal laws designed to protect against monopolies. It would also require a change in federal rules that limit how many stations that one company can own, although Carr has advocated for loosening those restrictions.
The merger was endorsed in February by President Trump, who wrote on social media that “we need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks.”
Nexstar flexed its muscles last fall in ordering its ABC stations to yank late-night host Jimmy Kimmel following comments he made about assassinated Republican activist Charlie Kirk, briefly leading to Kimmel’s suspension by Disney. But ABC brought Kimmel back following public outcry, and Nexstar backed down.
Given Nexstar’s tendency to consolidate newsrooms in communities where it owns more than one station, both lawsuits expressed concern that the merger would hurt the already-struggling local news business. There are 31 markets across the country where Nexstar and Tegna own at least one station, according to the lawsuit.
“We all benefit when local newsrooms compete to get stories,” James said.
The attorneys general said they were open to having other states support their actions — even those whose chief legal officials are Republicans.