Judge Rules Nexstar Officials No Longer Can Serve On Tegna’s Board

Nexstar officials cannot serve on the board of Tegna as an order remains in place to keep the two companies separate, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Troy Nunley clarified that his preliminary injunction, issued in April, prohibited current and former Nexstar “officers, employees, directors, consultants, or other affiliated personnel” from serving on Tegna’s board.

“It is shocking that Defendants think installing a Board of Directors comprised primarily of Nexstar executives would not create influence over Tegna management,” the judge wrote. “This undermines Tegna as an independent entity and violates the preliminary injunction.”

A coalition of state attorneys general and DirecTV sued to block the Nexstar-Tegna merger in March. In the next 24 hours, the FCC gave its greenlight to the transaction, and Nexstar closed the deal soon after that.

Nunley later granted a preliminary injunction that requires that the Nexstar and Tegna assets and operations be kept separate.

The plaintiffs last month objected to the presence of Nexstar officials serving on Tegna’s board, including Nexstar CEO Perry Sook.

In his order, Nunley also ordered a set of steps to ensure compliance, including providing board minutes and other documents to the plaintiffs on a monthly basis. He also directed the parties to file a stipulation and proposed order appointing a special master to oversee compliance. The judge wrote that Nexstar’s actions “violated the preliminary injunction as clarified. Therefore, ongoing compliance monitoring and discovery is warranted in this case to ensure adherence to the preliminary injunction, particularly in light of Defendants’ lack of candor.”

A Nexstar spokesperson did not immediate return a request for comment.