January 14, 2026
Defend the Press: FCC Must Answer for Rubberstamping Merger That Will Raise TV Bills
At today’s House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing, Chairman Brendan Carr along with the Federal Communications Commissioners were questioned on local TV broadcasting mergers and the consequences these mergers have on American consumers.
The proposed Nexstar-TEGNA merger is being sold to regulators as a public good, while openly marketed to Wall Street as a profit engine built on higher retransmission fees and cost-cutting. Nexstar has told investors that nearly half of the deal’s projected “synergies” will come from increased retransmission revenue. In other words, a direct increase in monthly TV bills for families who are already struggling with rising costs.
Yet when Nexstar appears before the FCC, those price hikes disappear from the story.
Carr’s hearing is a deliberate attempt to avoid scrutiny under the FCC’s public interest standard, which requires honesty about consumer harm, competition, and localism. You cannot claim a merger serves the public interest while hiding the very costs that make it profitable and the impacts on hard-working Americans.
The FCC was created to protect the public, not to serve as a clearinghouse for corporate consolidation. Approving a deal that would put one company in control of local television reaching more than 80 percent of the country would accelerate layoffs, hollow out local newsrooms, and reduce viewpoint diversity at a moment when trust in media is already fragile.
We would like to thank Chairman Richard Hudson for holding this important hearing, and commend Ranking Member Pallone, Congressman Raul Ruiz, and Commissioner Anna Gomez for shedding light on Chairman Carr’s disingenuous efforts to hide his support for weakening long-standing media safeguards and the critical 39 percent national television ownership cap.
At a time when affordability is one of the defining issues facing American households, the Commission’s handling of this merger raises serious questions about whose interests are being prioritized. Regulators should not allow companies to tell one story to investors and another to the public.
Defend the Press, a broad coalition of 25+ civic, civil rights, and media advocacy organizations, urges Members of Congress to hold the FCC accountable and demand real answers about how this merger will raise costs for consumers and weaken local journalism. The FCC should reject this deal and uphold its duty to the American people.
Yours in the Movement,
Brenda Victoria Castillo
President & CEO
National Hispanic Media Coalition
