U.S. President Donald Trump expressed a positive stance regarding Nexstar's push to merge with Tegna, a U.S. local broadcaster operator.
On the 7th (local time), President Trump said on Truth Social, "Allowing this transaction to go through will help eliminate fake news," adding, "We need more competition against our enemies, the national TV networks that are a hotbed of fake news."
He added, "Those who oppose it do not fully understand how good the concept of this transaction is, but they will in the future," and "Make the transaction happen."
The transaction Trump mentioned is seen as referring to Nexstar's attempt to merge with Tegna. Earlier, Nexstar Media Group, which owns and operates the largest number of local TV stations in the United States, released that it would acquire Tegna for $6.2 billion (about 9 trillion won) in Aug. last year.
If the merger goes through, Nexstar would operate 265 stations in 132 markets across the United States. Households nationwide that watch TV via Nexstar would reach about 80%. This exceeds the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) cap (39%), but Nexstar has argued that it should be exempt from the rule and the merger should be approved.
However, President Trump had previously expressed opposition regarding this.
On Nov. 11, he said on Truth Social, "I will not be happy if we allow the radical left networks to expand," adding, "The fake news networks should instead be reduced."