Justice Department Requires Divestitures in Order for Nexstar to Proceed with Media General Acquisition

The Department of Justice announced that it will require Nexstar Broadcasting Group to divest seven broadcast television stations in order to proceed with its $4.6 billion acquisition of Media General Corporation. The department said that without the required divestitures, the prices for broadcast television spot advertising and the fees charged to multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) – such as cable and satellite providers – for the retransmission of broadcast television programming to MVPD subscribers would likely increase in six designated market areas (DMAs) located across the United States.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit Sept 2 in the US District Court of the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction and simultaneously filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive harm alleged in the lawsuit. The department’s complaint alleges that the proposed transaction would lessen competition in the sale of broadcast television spot advertising and the licensing of broadcast television programming to MVPDs for retransmission to MVPD subscribers in the following DMAs: Roanoke-Lynchburg (VA), Terre Haute (IN), Fort Wayne (IN), Green Bay-Appleton (WI), Lafayette (LA), and Davenport (IA)/Rock Island-Moline (IL)(“Quad Cities”). As a result of the acquisition, Nexstar would control between 41 and 100 percent of the broadcast television station gross advertising revenues in these six DMAs and at least two broadcast television stations affiliated with the four major national television networks.