By Daniel Wiessner
April 30 (Reuters) – Five more U.S. states are joining an antitrust lawsuit challenging Nexstar’s acquisition of rival broadcaster Tegna after a judge temporarily blocked the deal from proceeding, California’s attorney general said on Thursday.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat whose office joined seven other states in suing over the $6.2 billion deal in March, said Massachusetts, Vermont, and his Republican counterparts in Indiana, Kansas, and Pennsylvania were joining the case.
The states’ attorneys general did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley in Sacramento said in an April 17 ruling that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claims that the deal will substantially lessen competition in dozens of local television markets.
The court’s order bars Nexstar from consolidating its operations with Tegna pending further litigation, but does not unwind the transaction.
The deal quickly closed after the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission approved it on March 19, which Nexstar noted in a statement announcing its appeal of Nunley’s decision.
The deal would create the largest broadcast station group in the U.S., reaching 80% of U.S. households. The states have argued that the deal would result in lost jobs, increased cable bills and “significantly impact the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide.”
Nexstar has said its deal with Tegna will strengthen local stations and support investment in local journalism.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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