Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is facing intensifying criticism after his office's decision to strike a deal with broadcast giant Nexstar, a move critics argue fails to protect local journalism, threatens jobs, and could drive up cable bills for consumers.
The agreement, structured as a memorandum of understanding, commonly known as a MOU, was announced as a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 13 states joined DirecTV in the opposite direction — filing suit to block Nexstar's proposed acquisition of TEGNA under federal antitrust law.
If approved, the merger would create the largest TV group in the nation, with Nexstar owning more than 260 stations across 44 states — more than those owned by CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox combined.
Newsmax contacted Yost's office for comment on the agreement with Nexstar. Press secretary Dominic Binkley pointed to the attorney general's statement in a release about the MOU.
"Journalistic independence is a cornerstone principle of our democracy," Yost said in the release. "I'm pleased that Nexstar has committed to upholding local news standards without going to court."
Binkley added the MOU requires Nexstar to maintain separate news teams in the two markets where the company would own dual TV stations following the merger.
"The Nexstar agreement keeps both newsrooms open and editorially independent in Cleveland and Columbus – it is enforceable by the Attorney General in court," Yost said.
The 13 states opposing the merger, including both Republicans and Democrats, warned the deal would allow for massive media consolidation, reduce competition, and ultimately harm consumers through higher cable prices and diminished local news coverage.
By contrast, Ohio opted for a negotiated settlement, a decision now under scrutiny from policy analysts, media watchdogs, and industry observers.
Perhaps the most significant criticism is what the deal does not address: consumer costs.
The coalition of attorneys general opposing the merger argues that increased consolidation would give Nexstar greater leverage in retransmission fee negotiations with cable and satellite providers — costs typically passed on to consumers.
Nexstar already has a massive reach, fueling profits. The company says it expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization profits to exceed $2 billion annually after the merger.
A federal judge overseeing the case has already signaled concern, noting evidence that the merger could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in increased annual costs for pay-TV subscribers.
In April, U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley issued a preliminary injunction essentially freezing the integration of Nexstar and Tegna, despite the $6.2 billion merger having technically closed in March.
Judge Nunley noted that without the injunction, the merged firm could own two or even three of the "Big Four" affiliates in 31 different markets, giving Nexstar "significant bargaining power" to demand higher fees from distributors like DirecTV.
While Nexstar is appealing the decision, analysts at firms such as Benchmark Capital note significant near-term hurdles to the merger, and the litigation is expected to "ice," or chill, other potential merger and acquisition activity across the broadcast sector.
The Ohio MOU, however, contains no provisions to limit or offset potential price increases.
And critics say the Ohio agreement provides little meaningful protection for local journalism.
While the MOU claims Nexstar will maintain editorial decision-making at the station level, analysts argue that language is undermined by the company's well-documented reliance on centralized content production.
The left-leaning Nexstar has increasingly used "must-run" segments — corporate-produced content distributed across its stations — to shape messaging nationwide.
Research cited in critiques of the deal indicates Nexstar leads the industry in duplicating local news content, with significant overlap across stations — even within the same market.
"The MOU says one thing, but Nexstar's track record says another," one critic noted, pointing to the contradiction between promises of local control and the company's centralized model.
Another major concern centers on employment.
While the agreement references maintaining separate journalist teams at acquired Ohio stations, it does not specify staffing levels or guarantee job protections.
More notably, the MOU explicitly excludes large categories of workers — such as engineers, photographers, and production staff — from its commitments. Critics argue this carveout effectively acknowledges that job cuts are likely.
Industry analysts say Nexstar has historically pursued cost savings by consolidating operations following acquisitions, often resulting in layoffs.
The company has also signaled to investors its intention to achieve "synergies" by operating multiple stations from shared infrastructure.
When Nexstar merged with Tribune in 2019, the company reduced total staff by 20% — cutting mostly local journalism jobs.
The agreement's promise to maintain the same "aggregate number of hours of local programming" has also drawn skepticism.
Critics argue the term "local programming" is undefined, leaving room for Nexstar to count centrally produced or duplicated content as local news.
This ambiguity, they say, could allow the company to meet the letter of the agreement while undermining its intent.
Further weakening the deal is a broad "material adverse change" clause, which gives Nexstar significant leeway to back out of commitments under a wide range of economic conditions.
Observers say this provision makes the already vague promises difficult to enforce in practice.
The split between Ohio and the coalition of states challenging the merger underscores a broader debate over how to regulate media consolidation in the digital age.
For the moment, Ohio's Dave Yost has sided in favor of media consolidation over competition and lower prices.
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