NEXSTAR TO REPLACE LOCAL NETWORK NEWS SEGMENTS WITH NEWSNATION

(Bloomberg) -- Nexstar Media Group Inc., the largest owner of local television stations in the US, has embarked on a sweeping effort to limit the reach of national networks like ABC, NBC and CBS through its affiliate stations across the country, according to a regulatory document and people with knowledge of the matter.

The Irving, Texas-based media company has begun preventing its stations from filling local newscasts with segments produced by national networks, asking them to use content from its NewsNation cable channel instead. 

Nexstar ended its stations’ agreement with Comcast Corp.’s NBC to share nationally reported segments, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked to not be identified. National news broadcasts such as NBC’s Today show and Nightly News are unaffected. But producers looking to fill local news broadcasts with national content will soon be limited to segments produced within the Nexstar corporate family.

Chief Executive Officer Perry Sook has said the company won’t renew similar pacts with other broadcast networks. ABC, CBS and Fox all contribute national segments to their local TV affiliates. 

Representatives for Nexstar and NewsNation declined to comment. 

The company won regulatory approval last month to acquire rival Tegna Inc. in part thanks to arguments that it will reinvigorate local news. That jibes with the policies of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who has been seeking to limit the influence national networks have over content aired by local affiliate stations. He has said national networks are increasingly forcing local stations to act as mouthpieces for New York and Hollywood agendas.

The changes could also lift the profile of NewsNation, which Nexstar launched five years ago and still trails rival cable channels in viewers.

During a town-hall meeting on March 26, Sook told employees at newly acquired Tegna stations that he sees NewsNation “becoming ultimately the exclusive wire service and national news partner for all of our local news operations, replacing the third-party and wire feeds and other news services we currently use to construct our local newscast,” according to a recording of the event reviewed by Bloomberg.

In a merger commitment letter to the FCC last month, Sook said Nexstar is “dedicated to preserving the independence of our local newsrooms at a time when national media organizations increasingly dictate the news agenda.” He noted that the company has “already ended our news cooperation relationship with one of the national broadcast networks, and we intend to allow our remaining agreements with the national broadcast networks to terminate as they expire.”

Tegna stations also have a news-licensing arrangement with CNN. A Tegna employee in a major market said they were concerned that the CNN relationship may also end, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Doing so could be politically favorable: CNN is a frequent target of President Donald Trump, and Carr recently said it’s “time for change” at Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’s 24-hour cable news channel.

Nexstar courted the Trump administration for merger approval of the Tegna deal. In a move widely seen as an effort to curry favor, Nexstar pulled comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night program from ABC-affiliated stations in September after Carr suggested he could cancel stations’ broadcast licenses over comments the host made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination. 

Nexstar closed its Tegna transaction minutes after the FCC granted approval, which included waivers of major anti-consolidation rules. The Justice Department cleared the combination unconditionally earlier the same day. The deal creates the largest operator of local TV stations in the country, but a judge has ordered the companies to pause their integration amid an antitrust lawsuit led by a coalition of state attorneys general and satellite TV distributor DirecTV.

Some employees at local Tegna stations in markets that are set to be combined with Nexstar competitors expressed concerns about the changes to the content available for their newscasts. Losing access to CBS and CNN segments, even if they’re replaced with NewsNation, would be devastating to journalists’ workflow, according to a WUSA9 producer in Washington, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid potential rebuke.

Another employee at a Tegna station said they’re worried that replacing segments anchored by a recognizable network talent with lesser-known Nexstar faces will drive viewers away and impact credibility.

Nexstar started its NewsNation cable channel in 2021 and expanded it to run 24-hour programming in 2024, setting it up to compete with the likes of Fox News, CNN and MS Now. The network averaged about 118,000 viewers in prime time last year, according to Nielsen viewership data. Fox News had about 2.7 million and MS Now over 900,000.

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2026-04-10T22:51:42Z