Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield joined a lawsuit to block Nexstar Media Group Inc. from buying Tegna Inc., a deal which would create the largest local broadcaster in the country and impact local news across the state.

Nexstar owns KOIN-TV in Oregon. Tegna owns KGW-TV.

KOIN, the CBS affiliate based in Portland, and KGW, the NBC affiliate in the same city, are competitors.

“Right now, when you flip between KGW and KOIN, you’re getting two different newsrooms with two different perspectives on what’s happening in your community,” Rayfield said in a statement. “This deal would change that. Suddenly those two competing newsrooms would answer to the same corporate boss, making the same budget and staffing decisions, and editorial choices about and what stories get told — or don’t.”

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in California. Rayfield joins a group of Democratic attorneys general from California, New York, Connecticut, Colorado and Virginia. They are arguing that not only would the $6.2 billion deal negatively impact local television across Oregon and the nation, but it would also raise the price of cable and lead to layoffs.

Rayfield pointed to a study that said Nexstar is often simply duplicating the news and running word-for-word stories and videos across markets. Oregonians, Rayfield argued, would not receive local news but instead “whatever centrally produced content Nexstar decides to distribute.”

When announcing the deal, Nexstar and Tegna reportedly said the combined company would be “better able to serve communities by ensuring the long-term vitality of local news and programming from trusted local sources and preserving the diversity of local voice and opinion.”

The lawsuit says the merged entity would own 265 television stations across 44 states and the District of Columbia, reaching about 80% of households. The lawsuit also says the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act which prohibits any merger or acquisitions that would result in less competition “or tend to create a monopoly.”

Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have responsibility to halt such a merger, according to Rayfield’s office.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump appeared to support the deal in a tweet when he wrote, “Get that deal done!” and has said the deal should be struck in order to “Knock out the Fake News,” according to the press release. Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman, responded on social media, “Let’s get it done.”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/03/19/oregon-lawsuit-tegna-nexstar-merger-koin-tv-kgw-news/