A proposed merger between the father or mother corporations of two of Denver’s high TV information operations might lead to layoffs, consolidation and programming adjustments, based on media consultants.
Fox31 KDVR father or mother firm Nexstar Media Group, primarily based in Irving, Texas, on Tuesday mentioned it deliberate to accumulate Virginia-based Tegna Inc., the proprietor of Denver NBC affiliate 9News KUSA, in an industry-shaking deal value $6.2 billion. The proposal nonetheless requires federal approval.
“What’s taking place in Denver isn’t only a native and even nationwide media story,” mentioned Laura Frank, a professor of media and journalism research on the College of Denver. “That is a part of a a lot larger sample we’ve seen throughout industries.”
Nexstar oversees greater than 200 owned and accomplice stations within the U.S., whereas Tegna owns 64. If the deal goes by means of, because it’s anticipated to within the latter half of 2026, Nexstar will shortly discover efficiencies by chopping employees and mixing information operations, consultants mentioned, whereas syndicating its present content material on the newly acquired stations.
Denver is the seventeenth largest TV information market within the U.S., with a metro inhabitants of 4.6 million, and 1.8 million common viewers, according to 2023 data from the National Association of Broadcasters. The Denver/Aurora market is the most important in Colorado, adopted by Boulder, together with Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, the Colorado Broadcasters Association mentioned.
The Nexstar-Tegna announcement follows an aggressive push for deregulation by the Federal Communications Fee, which oversees media possession within the U.S., and a latest federal courtroom ruling pleasant to media consolidation. President Donald Trump’s administration has lengthy advocated for a loosening of what it calls overly restrictive media-ownership rules, and present FCC chairman Brendan Carr in March vowed to “delete, delete, delete” outdated regulations.
Nexstar mentioned Tuesday that the deal will assist it give advertisers an even bigger number of native and nationwide broadcast and digital promoting choices. The outcome will probably be extra concentrated possession in an {industry} desperately searching for a bonus amid streaming providers, podcasts, digital newsletters and different opponents to legacy information media, based on {industry} analysts.
However when consolidation takes over, in any {industry}, communities usually lose one thing important, Frank mentioned. Examples embrace airways chopping service, shops shedding their native id, and radio stations shedding native voices.
“Its specific strategy and voice might vanish not as a result of it failed, however as a result of effectivity demanded it,” she mentioned of 9News.
The bigger information ecosystem would additionally take a success if the deal goes by means of, mentioned Kimberly A. Spencer, director of the Colorado Media Challenge.
“This consolidation is deeply regarding as a result of it doesn’t occur in a vacuum,” she mentioned. “It dangers weakening a industrial anchor establishment like 9News at the exact same time that our public media, which is a lifeline for a lot of rural areas, is dealing with its personal funding disaster.”
That presents a twin menace to each industrial and public establishments, since it might depart a gap that smaller, hyperlocal retailers usually don’t have the sources to fill, she mentioned. The outcome would speed up the expansion of stories deserts throughout Colorado, she added.
Tegna and Nexstar, which each declined remark to JS for this story, have mentioned in statements that they are going to proceed to assist editorial independence at their stations. However the award-winning model id that 9News prides itself on might, for instance, go away as investigations and commentary weaken or vanish as a result of such consolidation.
“By and huge, these transactions create synergies and, evidently, when that occurs, you’re going to see a trimming of prices,” mentioned Francisco R. Montero, a Virginia-based lawyer and adviser to the Colorado Broadcasting Affiliation. “That could possibly be within the again workplace, or in a discount of workforce for positions which have turn out to be redundant. You may also see a few of Nexstar’s programming abruptly seem on Tegna stations as they get entry to it.”
The argument for deregulation hinges on the truth that U.S. media possession guidelines had been largely written earlier than the digital age, making it tough for TV stations, newspapers and radio stations to compete with Google — which affords information, video, audio and different content material rolled into one, mentioned Montero, co-managing accomplice at Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth.
“How are you going to stop an AM radio station from proudly owning a newspaper in the identical market today? The argument is that it places legacy media at an unfair benefit,” he mentioned. “It’s like regulating typewriter ribbons in a digital world.”
Even because the battle traces have shifted dramatically, native rankings have remained regular, based on Comscore knowledge.
NBC affiliate 9News attracts essentially the most viewers to its every day newscasts, adopted by KDVR (Fox), KCNC (CBS), KMGH (ABC) and KWGN (The CW, which can be owned by Nexstar), Comscore reported. Leaders 9News and Fox31 have often jockeyed for the highest place within the Denver-Aurora market during the last 5 years, Comscore has reported.
That mentioned, Denver TV stations are more and more averse to confirming rankings numbers, preferring to downplay conventional viewership whereas highlighting on-line guests and digital features. Most have stopped publicly citing Comscore, which tracks viewership and offers customized studies to paid shoppers, regardless of paying shut consideration to it internally, based on media consultants The Publish interviewed.
The bigger strikes towards consolidation comply with a July motion by the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which vacated the FCC’s “high 4” rule lengthy prohibiting possession of greater than one of many high 4 stations in a single market. The ruling remains to be topic to a monthslong evaluation by the FCC, however might considerably clear the way in which for future mergers within the {industry}.
In firm earnings calls held in early August, earlier than Tegna and Nexstar publicly confirmed merger talks, each Tegna CEO Michael Steib and Nexstar CEO Perry Sook pointed on to this ruling, and applauded the FCC’s aggressive new dedication to the deregulation agenda as an entire.
“We imagine that deregulation is critical, essential and coming,” Steib mentioned in Tegna’s Aug. 7 name, noting that native broadcasters are “up towards huge tech opponents who’ve completely no encumbrances in how they compete.”
A neighborhood TV station swap in Colorado Springs final month primarily created a duopoly when Grey Media and KOAA News5 (NBC) father or mother firm E.W. Scripps acquired KKTV (CBS), in addition to western Colorado’s KKCO (NBC) and the low-power station KJCT-LP (ABC), according to KOAA.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
