Bipartisan unease surfaces at Senate hearing on Nexstar-Tegna merger
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Lawmakers from both parties signaled deep skepticism Tuesday toward a proposed merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna, warning that the deal could concentrate unprecedented power over local TV news even as supporters argue broadcasters need scale to survive in a digital marketplace dominated by Big Tech.
At a heated Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing, senators pressed a panel of media executives and policy experts, including Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, National Association of Broadcasters President Curtis LeGeyt, former Federal Communications Committee general counsel Thomas Johnson, and Report for America co-founder Steve Waldman, on whether the merger would hollow out local journalism rather than save it.
“If the Nexstar-Tegna deal goes through, a single company will control 265 stations capable of reaching 80% of all the television households,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the committee’s ranking Democrat. “To me, that is not more local voices. That is fewer.”
Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) framed the debate as a collision between outdated law and modern media realities.
“If there’s one thing that’s clear,” Cruz said, “current media ownership rules were written in a vastly different technological age.”
Still, Cruz acknowledged the stakes for local communities, asking whether raising the ownership cap would ultimately strengthen or weaken local news and viewpoint diversity.
The hearing came just days after President Donald Trump publicly backed the merger, marking a reversal from his earlier skepticism and escalating a regulatory fight that has drawn intense lobbying from both supporters and opponents.
“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. “GET THAT DEAL DONE!”
“Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar-Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level,” he added.
Trump had criticized the deal in November, warning that if it allowed “the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy.” His latest endorsement signals a notable shift as regulators weigh loosening ownership restrictions that currently block the merger.
Critics of the merger seized on the moment to warn that consolidation could leave communities with fewer independent reporters. “You have less content, less diversity of news,” Ruddy told lawmakers, arguing that previous …
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Lawmakers from both parties signaled deep skepticism Tuesday toward a proposed merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna, warning that the deal could concentrate unprecedented power over local TV news even as supporters argue broadcasters need scale to survive in a digital marketplace dominated by Big Tech.
At a heated Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing, senators pressed a panel of media executives and policy experts, including Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, National Association of Broadcasters President Curtis LeGeyt, former Federal Communications Committee general counsel Thomas Johnson, and Report for America co-founder Steve Waldman, on whether the merger would hollow out local journalism rather than save it.
“If the Nexstar-Tegna deal goes through, a single company will control 265 stations capable of reaching 80% of all the television households,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the committee’s ranking Democrat. “To me, that is not more local voices. That is fewer.”
Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) framed the debate as a collision between outdated law and modern media realities.
“If there’s one thing that’s clear,” Cruz said, “current media ownership rules were written in a vastly different technological age.”
Still, Cruz acknowledged the stakes for local communities, asking whether raising the ownership cap would ultimately strengthen or weaken local news and viewpoint diversity.
The hearing came just days after President Donald Trump publicly backed the merger, marking a reversal from his earlier skepticism and escalating a regulatory fight that has drawn intense lobbying from both supporters and opponents.
“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. “GET THAT DEAL DONE!”
“Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar-Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level,” he added.
Trump had criticized the deal in November, warning that if it allowed “the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy.” His latest endorsement signals a notable shift as regulators weigh loosening ownership restrictions that currently block the merger.
Critics of the merger seized on the moment to warn that consolidation could leave communities with fewer independent reporters. “You have less content, less diversity of news,” Ruddy told lawmakers, arguing that previous …
Bipartisan unease surfaces at Senate hearing on Nexstar-Tegna merger
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Lawmakers from both parties signaled deep skepticism Tuesday toward a proposed merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna, warning that the deal could concentrate unprecedented power over local TV news even as supporters argue broadcasters need scale to survive in a digital marketplace dominated by Big Tech.
At a heated Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing, senators pressed a panel of media executives and policy experts, including Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, National Association of Broadcasters President Curtis LeGeyt, former Federal Communications Committee general counsel Thomas Johnson, and Report for America co-founder Steve Waldman, on whether the merger would hollow out local journalism rather than save it.
“If the Nexstar-Tegna deal goes through, a single company will control 265 stations capable of reaching 80% of all the television households,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the committee’s ranking Democrat. “To me, that is not more local voices. That is fewer.”
Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) framed the debate as a collision between outdated law and modern media realities.
“If there’s one thing that’s clear,” Cruz said, “current media ownership rules were written in a vastly different technological age.”
Still, Cruz acknowledged the stakes for local communities, asking whether raising the ownership cap would ultimately strengthen or weaken local news and viewpoint diversity.
The hearing came just days after President Donald Trump publicly backed the merger, marking a reversal from his earlier skepticism and escalating a regulatory fight that has drawn intense lobbying from both supporters and opponents.
“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. “GET THAT DEAL DONE!”
“Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar-Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level,” he added.
Trump had criticized the deal in November, warning that if it allowed “the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy.” His latest endorsement signals a notable shift as regulators weigh loosening ownership restrictions that currently block the merger.
Critics of the merger seized on the moment to warn that consolidation could leave communities with fewer independent reporters. “You have less content, less diversity of news,” Ruddy told lawmakers, arguing that previous …
0 Comments
0 Shares
27 Views
0 Reviews
