Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Nexstar-Tegna merger and WNY

WGRZ-TV studios, Buffalo, New York - 20210816
NBC 2 WGRZ On Your Side studios in Buffalo; 16 August 2021.
Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 TV station conglomerates Nexstar and Tegna have announced their merger. Of course, this needs approval from the FCC and FTC, and some stations will have to be sold off, particularly where they overlap. One area I know is Buffalo. Tegna, which spun off of USA Today owner Gannett, own NBC 2 WGRZ, their only station in New York State. Nexstar are far bigger, owning NBC 2's competitor CBS 4 WIVB, as well as CNY's ABC affiliates NewsChannel 9 WSYR in Syracuse and ABC 20 WUTR in Utica to name a few. Since Buffalo is a larger market than Syracuse, having the boys' turf nearby for added ratings to boot, having it like CNYcentral back in my area may not work, which has CW 6, while CBS 4 is sister to O&O CW 23 WNLO. So much for WNYcentral, if you like. NBC 4 could be sold to Hearst, Hubbard, Weigel, Mission, Cox, Gray, or Deltavision. Scripps already have yet another WNY station, ABC 7 WKBW, while Sinclair have Fox 29 WUTV and my 49 WNYO. Even in the age of streaming, these deals are still lucrative. Tegna also own ABC 16 WNEP in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area, the other NBC 3 WKYC in Cleveland, and flagship CBS 9 WUSA in Washington, DC.

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