The NAB tells the FCC that the "merits of the proposed transaction have been thoroughly and comprehensively argued before the FCC, and the Department of Justice has blessed the merger. There is no good reason for further delay."
NAB: FCC Should Move Now On Nexstar-MG
“There is no good reason for further delay” in processing the Nexstar-Media General merger application, according to a letter NAB’s general Counsel Rick Kaplan sent to the FCC today.
Kaplan noted that more than 230 days ago, the commission accepted for filing applications for the transfer of control and assignment of licenses of full-power, low-power, TV translator and Class A broadcast television stations from Media General to Nexstar Broadcasting Group. And last month, the Justice Department approved the merger.
“Given DOJ’s approval,” he said, “and the fact that the commission has well exceeded its 180-day shot clock for reviewing major transactions, the NAB urges the commission to fulfill its duty to process the transaction immediately.”
In addition, he wrote, if the commission approves the deal, it should grant the pending request for a waiver of the reverse auction application rules “and permit Nexstar and Media General to consummate their merger prior to the conclusion of the broadcast spectrum incentive auction.
“As the auction moves forward with no fixed end date, Nexstar and Media General are frozen in place while they wait for the commission’s determination. The FCC’s delay in acting upon the proposed merger also has created ongoing and unnecessary uncertainty regarding associated transactions for divestitures that, if consummated, will increase female and minority ownership of television stations and result in the sale of other stations to small, independent broadcasters.”
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