By Brian Stelter, CNN
(CNN) — Nexstar’s politically charged acquisition of a rival TV station owner, Tegna, has been halted by a federal judge in California.
Friday’s court action throws Nexstar’s takeover plans into doubt and signifies a major victory for the Democratic state attorneys general who sued to block the deal last month.
A leading satellite TV distributor, DirecTV, also filed suit, arguing that the Nexstar-Tegna merger would violate antitrust laws.
US District Judge Troy Nunley consolidated the cases and sided with the plaintiffs in a Friday evening ruling. He wrote that the merger is “presumed likely to violate antitrust laws.”
Nexstar responded by calling the Tegna deal a “pro-competitive transaction” that “will make local stations stronger and support continued investment in local journalism and fact-based news.”
“We will appeal today’s decision and look forward to presenting our case
on its merits before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,” the company said.
But for the time being, Nexstar can’t do anything to integrate Tegna’s stations or influence its management.
Nunley had already issued a temporary restraining order that paused Nexstar’s takeover plan. On Friday, he issued a preliminary injunction, which means the two companies are frozen in place until a trial can take place.
“This is a critical win in our case,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “This merger is illegal, plain and simple.”
Because the addition of Tegna’s stations would make Nexstar an even more dominant player in the local TV business, numerous companies and critics had come out against the deal. Advocates said Nexstar would cut costs and weaken local news coverage in markets nationwide.
But Nexstar spent months appealing to President Donald Trump and lobbying regulators to approve the deal. The president, who initially sounded skeptical about the deal, publicly endorsed it in February. He claimed the merger would “more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks.”
Then his administration followed through on the necessary approvals in March, just hours after the state attorneys general and DirecTV filed suit.
The result: A stark divide between the Justice Department’s antitrust officials and the state-level antitrust enforcers.
Bonta referenced the divide in his statement, saying, “The federal government may have thrown in the towel, but we’ll keep fighting for consumers, for workers, for affordability, and for our local news.”
Nunley’s ruling came at the end of the same week that state AGs prevailed in court in a high-stakes monopoly trial against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
The federal government had been working closely with the states to take Live Nation to court, but Trump reportedly became personally involved in the case and urged the Justice Department to strike a settlement.
Gail Slater, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, was forced out of her job in February, and the settlement deal was announced a few weeks later, disrupting the second week of the trial.
But the state-level antitrust lawyers pressed on and prevailed before a New York jury on Wednesday.
Slater sent congratulations to the state AGs on X, writing, “You made antitrust history today. You fought the good fight, you finished the race, and you kept the faith.”
Bonta and other state AGs have also said that their offices are closely examining Paramount’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN.
Bonta’s office said earlier this week that the “robust review” of Paramount is “ongoing.”