KLFY’s Owner Just Became the Biggest TV Station Group in America. Eight States Are Already in Court Over It.
LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — The federal government approved it. Nexstar closed it. And eight states and DirecTV sued to kill it.
All on the same day.
Nexstar Media Group announced it closed its $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna on March 19, 2026, after receiving sign-off from both the Department of Justice and the FCC. Hours later, eight state attorneys general and DirecTV filed separate federal lawsuits seeking to block the deal. The transaction makes Nexstar, already the largest local TV station owner in the country, significantly larger, absorbing Tegna’s roughly 64 stations and pushing its total footprint to nearly 265 stations reaching about 60% of U.S. television households by the FCC’s own accounting.
KLFY News 10 has been a Nexstar station since 2016, when Nexstar bought Media General. Channel 10 is Lafayette’s oldest television station and the CBS affiliate serving eight Acadiana parishes. It is not a Tegna property, so nothing changes at KLFY in terms of day-to-day operations. The station is simply now part of a much larger company that is immediately facing federal court battles over whether it should exist in its current form.
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What the Eight States Are Arguing
According to Variety, the eight states that filed suit — California, New York, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, North Carolina, Connecticut, and Virginia — allege the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits mergers that substantially reduce competition or tend to create a monopoly. California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the deal “illegal, plain and simple,” arguing it would lead to higher cable and satellite prices nationwide and reduce the quality of local journalism.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the state attorneys general expected the Justice Department to review the merger in a “cursory manner” and that the FCC would approve it anyway. States, she said, have a legal responsibility to act when federal oversight comes up short.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. The case is proceeding even after Nexstar announced the deal had closed.
The FCC and DOJ Cleared the Deal — Over Its Own Rules
The FCC approved the merger and granted Nexstar a waiver of the agency’s ownership cap rule, which limits any single TV station group from reaching more than 39% of U.S. households. The combined Nexstar-Tegna entity lands at nearly 60% by the FCC’s own accounting. To get there, the FCC required Nexstar to divest six stations across six markets and commit to expanding local news investment in acquired markets. Nexstar also agreed to hold existing retransmission rates steady for pay-TV providers through November 30, 2026.
The DOJ signed off as well. The approvals gave Nexstar the green light to close the deal immediately, which it did.
President Trump had publicly pushed for the merger. According to Axios, he posted on social media in February 2026, urging Nexstar and Tegna to “get that deal done,” saying the merger would help “Knock out the Fake News” from the “Fake News National TV Networks.” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr responded on social media the same way: “Let’s get it done.” Carr had also been public about his support for scrapping the agency’s decades-old ownership cap rule entirely.
DirecTV Says Your TV Bill Is on the Line
DirecTV filed its own federal antitrust lawsuit the same day in the same Sacramento federal court. The company argued the merger puts the country’s largest and second-largest English-language broadcast station groups under one roof, giving Nexstar enormous leverage to raise the fees it charges pay-TV distributors to carry local stations. Those fees get passed to subscribers.
According to DirecTV’s complaint, retransmission consent fees have grown more than 5,000% over the past two decades, from roughly $214.6 million in 2006 to an estimated $11.9 billion in 2025. DirecTV argued Nexstar’s added leverage after absorbing Tegna would accelerate that trend, leading to higher subscriber costs and more frequent blackouts during contract disputes. The lawsuit also noted that many Nexstar and Tegna stations carry major professional and college sports, which makes blackout threats during carriage disputes more potent.
“DirecTV and its subscribers will end up paying more for less,” the company said in its filing.
What Nexstar Says
Nexstar told regulators the merger is good for local news. The company said combining its resources with Tegna’s will help preserve local journalism, and it committed to increasing local news investment in markets where it picks up Tegna stations. It also agreed to equal opportunity employment standards as a condition of FCC approval.
Nexstar and Tegna did not respond to media requests for comment on the lawsuits.
What This Means for Acadiana
KLFY has operated under Nexstar since 2016 and serves eight parishes: Lafayette, Acadia, St. Martin, Iberia, Vermilion, Evangeline, St. Landry, and Jefferson Davis. The station produces local news, weather, and sports content for the region, including “Passe Partout” in the mornings and Cajun Nation on weekends.
Nothing changes at KLFY because of this merger. What could change is what Acadiana households pay for the pay-TV services that carry KLFY and other local stations. That question now sits with federal judges in Sacramento.
The cases will move forward even as Nexstar begins integrating Tegna’s stations.
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