MoveOn Petition, Optimum Urge FCC to Reject Nexstar/Tegna Deal
MoveOn and Optimum made separate calls Wednesday for the FCC to block Nexstar’s purchase of Tegna.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 23,000 people had signed a petition on MoveOn.org saying the deal should be rejected. “No more media monopolies! We all lose when our media and local news stations are controlled by just a powerful few,” the petition said. “And we deserve better than a consolidation of power by greedy executives more interested in their bottom line than defending our freedom of press and speech.”
The FCC’s “consideration of the blatantly illegal consolidation, and its threats to force these companies into compliance with [President Donald] Trump’s demands, represents a serious abuse of power,” MoveOn said in a news release announcing the petition. The organization previously hosted a 660,000-signature petition against the eliminating CPB funding (see 1703210025).
MVPD Optimum also blasted Tegna in a news release Wednesday, linking the Nexstar deal to retransmission consent fee hikes and urging the FCC to reject the transaction. “Customers shouldn’t subsidize broadcaster mergers,” Optimum said. “These demands from TEGNA cannot be viewed in isolation; they are directly linked to the looming merger of Nexstar and TEGNA and a broadcasting industry that is rapidly contracting into a duopoly,” it added. “At a time when families are watching every dollar, TEGNA is demanding double-digit hikes without offering a single improvement in content or service, and when content is available on other platforms.” Tegna didn't comment.