A federal judge’s temporary restraining order has paused Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, and Nexstar’s lawyers say the TRO cannot be fully implemented without causing immediate operational harm, regulatory conflicts, and a governance vacuum.
The TRO was issued by U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley in the Eastern District of California in an antitrust suit brought by DirecTV and bars the companies from proceeding with integration. The court has requested further filings and scheduled an in-person hearing for April 7, 2026.
In a March 31 filing, Nexstar and Tegna notified the court that steps taken at closing and existing legal obligations make compliance with parts of the TRO impossible to reverse. The companies argued that integration already underway cannot be frozen like a conventional hold-separate order and warned the TRO could jeopardize assets and operations.
Nexstar detailed operational harms and proposed targeted modifications to the TRO to mitigate immediate risks, covering debt and cash management; distribution and retransmission agreements; financing and reporting obligations; corporate governance, officer authority, and interim operating covenants; employee compensation and workforce decisions; and management authority over ordinary-course operations.
The filing said the proposed changes could reduce irreparable harm and help protect Tegna stations in the short term but acknowledged the proposals may not fully resolve the issues and may need further refinement before the preliminary injunction hearing on April 7.