Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said he still fully expects the local TV giant’s pending deal to acquire rival Tegna will get approved despite some surprisingly adversarial comments recently by President Trump.
The exec appeared Monday at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference for a panel focused largely on the $6.2 billion merger proposed earlier this year. Nexstar and other broadcasters have been lobbying federal regulators to do away with the ownership cap, with that step crucial in order for the Nexstar-Tegna deal to be approved. Currently, a single company may own stations reaching no more than 39% of U.S. households. As proposed, the Nexstar-Tegna deal would double that footprint.
Trump expressed concern in one of his typically feverish social media posts that lifting the cap could help amplify left-of-center voices, a worry voiced previously by Chris Ruddy, a longtime associate. Ruddy runs conservative TV news network Newsmax. “If this would also allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social., adding that ABC and NBC are a “disaster” and a “virtual arm of the Democratic Party.”
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At the UBS conference, Sook’s comments echoed a statement Nexstar put out in the wake of Trump’s comments last month. “I don’t think these will be the only tweets you’ll ever see on this transaction, the potential Netflix transaction, or, you know, any other derivative that might come from that,” the exec said. “He’s going to weigh in because he is very attuned to the media, and he was going to make sure that, you know, his opinion is known, not only in Washington but by the counterparties involved in the transaction. I certainly respect that.”
Sook said he has cautioned the executive team at Nexstar about being “whipsawed” by takes on the merger as the company goes through the two-month public comment period managed by the FCC. The period will elapse in January.
“A lot of people have things to say about the transaction,” which will create a local TV colossus of unprecedented scale, Sook said. “And so, we will be whipsawed, and people may choose to try and trade on that. I certainly respect everybody’s business model, but I said, we need to not pay attention to noise. We need to just keep our heads down and do the work.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, has repeatedly expressed support for lifting the cap, which proponents say would help level the playing field between local TV and Big Tech. Opinions differ about whether the change would require Congressional action. With or without the imprimatur of Congress, the matter will likely be decided in court, though no lawsuits have yet been filed over the most recent round of challenges to the ownership rules.
Beyond the FCC process, which will move to the “pleading” phase once public comments are closed, Sook was asked about the Department of Justice. UBS analyst John Hodulik, who moderated the session with Sook and Nexstar CFO Lee Ann Gliha, expressed his view that the DOJ’s antitrust division has been more of a “black box” than the FCC under Carr, a constant presence on social media.
Sook said meetings with DOJ staff and officials are on the calendar for 2026. The discussions will be “very interactive; they’ll be asking questions, we’ll be asking questions.” The kinds of questions posed in the meetings could lead to refinements to the merger agreement, Sook said. Asked by Hodulik about likely divestitures, Sook said it was too early to determine if they’ll be required, but the company has told shareholders they would be “immaterial” if they are applied to the deal.
As far as the Trump factor, Sook noted, there has been his criticism but also his pro-business and anti-regulation comments during both terms in office. “We wouldn’t be contemplating this transaction if he weren’t in the White House,” the CEO observed.