DIRECTV Files Conspiracy Suit Against Nation's Largest Broadcaster Nexstar, Charging Collusion with Mission and White Knight Broadcasting

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Mar 14, 2023, 17:57 ET

Station Blackout Surpasses Sixth Month, Costing Hundreds of Thousands of Consumers across 15 States and 25 Nielsen Media Markets upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournament, Academy Awards, Super Bowl LVII, World Series, and Other Key Content to Drive Up Consumer Video Costs

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., March 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DIRECTV today took a stand for its customers by mounting a legal challenge in what it charges is an illegal conspiracy among three broadcasters to increase content costs for free over-the-air TV. The fees distributors pay for permission to offer their customers local broadcast stations have soared more than 5,000% in the past 17 years and is the single largest source of rising costs facing video consumers today. When any distributors resist extreme rate increases, Nexstar and other broadcast giants often act as a gateway to black out key content from consumers living within any regions they are exclusively licensed to serve, and levy far higher tolls to bring that programming back.

Today's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges America's largest broadcaster Nexstar Media Group with violating federal antitrust law by engaging in an illegal conspiracy with Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting to manipulate, raise and fix the prices of so-called retransmission consent fees that DIRECTV must pay to offer ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX local stations. The trio's 27 owned or operated local stations remain blacked out to several hundreds of thousands of DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and U-verse consumers spanning 25 cities from Albany to Albuquerque and Billings to Baton Rouge beginning Oct. 7, 2022.

The DIRECTV suit calls out in detail how Nexstar utilizes Mission and White Knight to skirt FCC station ownership caps and other federal laws through collusive retransmission consent negotiations with "sidecar" station groups that it manages. Nexstar owns overlapping stations with White Knight and Mission in every one of the affected markets (see below), and the suit charges both White Knight and Mission allow their respective retransmission consent negotiations to be overseen, administered and subject to the approval of Nexstar in direct violation of applicable laws.

"Mission and White Knight are now unlawfully coordinating with Nexstar to raise prices and extract supracompetitive retransmission consent fees from DIRECTV in 'overlap' DMAs—those markets where both Nexstar and either Mission or White Knight each own a Big-4 station," DIRECTV states. "To accomplish this unlawful and anticompetitive aim, Mission and White Knight have entered into an agreement in which they have effectively relinquished decision-making authority to Nexstar."

Among its several other examples, the suit argues that the trio routinely share confidential rates and other financial information through a single agent who can't keep the details of one contract straight from another, closely align their respective blackout dates, and duplicate their public responses to the media to manipulate viewers and betray the public trust once they unilaterally pull their station signals.

Legal record of this case is available at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

About DIRECTV - Since its launch in 1994, DIRECTV has continually evolved its product, best-in-class content, service, and user experience to provide customers with an industry-leading video offering. DIRECTV offers the industry's best picture format and exciting content in 4K HDR. DIRECTV also gives customers the choice of watching movies and TV shows from virtually anywhere – on their TVs at home or their favorite mobile devices via the DIRECTV app. DIRECTV STREAM, the streaming video service, is designed for the household that wants the best of live TV and on-demand, compelling live TV packages, sports and, when using a DIRECTV STREAM device, access to more than 7,000 apps on Google Play.

Here are the individual stations, networks, and communities currently blacked out by Mission's and White Night's ongoing retransmission consent dispute, as well as the Nexstar-owned stations that operate them in each of those same DMAs:

Nielsen DMA	Station	Network	STATION OWNER
*Abilene, TX*	*KTAB*	*CBS*	*Nexstar Media*
Abilene, TX	KRBC	NBC	Mission Broadcasting
*Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY*	*WTEN*	*ABC*	*Nexstar Media*
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	WXXA	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Albuquerque-Santa Fe, NM*	*KRQE*	*CBS*	*Nexstar Media*
*Albuquerque-Santa Fe, NM*	*KRQE-D2*	*FOX*	*Nexstar Media*
Albuquerque-Santa Fe, NM	KWBQ	CW	Mission Broadcasting
Albuquerque-Santa Fe, NM	KASY	MNT	Mission Broadcasting
*Amarillo, TX*	*KAMR*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Amarillo, TX	KCIT	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Baton Rouge, LA*	*WBRL-CD*	CW	*Nexstar Media*
*Baton Rouge, LA*	*WGMB*	*FOX*	*Nexstar Media*
Baton Rouge, LA	WVLA	NBC	White Knight Broadcasting
*Billings, MT*	*KSVI*	*ABC*	*Nexstar Media*
Billings, MT	KHMT	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Burlington, VT*	*WFFF*	*FOX*	*Nexstar Media*
Burlington, VT	WVNY	ABC	Mission Broadcasting
*Davenport, IA-Rock Island, IL-Moline, IL*	*WHBF*	*CBS*	*Nexstar Media*
*Davenport, IA-Rock Island, IL-Moline, IL*	*KGCW*	CW	*Nexstar Media*
Davenport, IA-Rock Island, IL-Moline, IL	KLJB	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Erie, PA*	*WJET*	*ABC*	*Nexstar Media*
Erie, PA	WFXP	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Evansville, IN*	*WEHT*	*ABC*	*Nexstar Media*
Evansville, IN	WTVW	CW	Mission Broadcasting
*Joplin-Pittsburg, KS*	*KSNF*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Joplin-Pittsburg, KS	KODE	ABC	Mission Broadcasting
*Lansing, MI*	*WLNS*	*CBS*	*Nexstar Media*
Lansing, MI	WLAJ	ABC	Mission Broadcasting
Lansing, MI	CW	CW	Mission Broadcasting
*Little Rock-Pine Bluff, AR*	*KARZ*	*MNT*	*Nexstar Media*
*Little Rock-Pine Bluff, AR*	*KARK*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Little Rock-Pine Bluff, AR	KASN	CW	Mission Broadcasting
Little Rock-Pine Bluff, AR	KLRT	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Lubbock, TX*	*KLBK*	*CBS*	*Nexstar Media*
Lubbock, TX	KAMC	ABC	Mission Broadcasting
*Monroe, LA-El Dorado, AR*	*KARD*	*FOX*	*Nexstar Media*
Monroe, LA-El Dorado, AR	KTVE	NBC	Mission Broadcasting
*Odessa-Midland, TX*	*KMID*	*ABC*	*Nexstar Media*
Odessa-Midland, TX	KPEJ	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Providence, RI-New Bedford, MA*	*WPRI*	*CBS*	*Nexstar Media*
Providence, RI-New Bedford, MA	CW	CW	Mission Broadcasting
Providence, RI-New Bedford, MA	WNAC	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Rockford, IL*	*WQRF*	*FOX*	*Nexstar Media*
Rockford, IL	WTVO	ABC	Mission Broadcasting
Rockford, IL	MNT	MNT	Mission Broadcasting
*Shreveport, LA*	*KSHV*	*MNT*	*Nexstar Media*
*Shreveport, LA*	*KTAL*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Shreveport, LA	KMSS	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Springfield, MO*	*KRBK*	*FOX*	*Nexstar Media*
*Springfield, MO*	*KOZL*	*MNT*	*Nexstar Media*
Springfield, MO	KOLR	CBS	Mission Broadcasting
*Terre Haute, IN*	*WTWO*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Terre Haute, IN	WAWV	ABC	Mission Broadcasting
*Tyler-Longview, TX*	*KETK*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Tyler-Longview, TX	KFXK	FOX	White Knight Broadcasting
*Utica, NY*	*WFXV*	*FOX*	*Nexstar Media*
Utica, NY	WUTR	ABC	Mission Broadcasting
*Wichita Falls, TX-Lawton, OK*	*KJBO-LP*	*MNT*	*Nexstar Media*
*Wichita Falls, TX-Lawton, OK*	*KFDX*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Wichita Falls, TX-Lawton, OK	KJTL	FOX	Mission Broadcasting
*Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA*	*WBRE*	*NBC*	*Nexstar Media*
Wilkes Barre-Scranton, PA	WYOU	CBS	Mission Broadcasting

Stations Currently Down
*Nexstar Stations in Same Markets*