CALIFORNIA — A federal judge in Sacramento, California, issued a temporary injunction blocking Nexstar from operating television stations it acquired from Tegna as part of a $6.2 billion deal that faces antitrust lawsuits in federal court. The injunction came after a coalition of eight state attorneys general and DirecTV filed an antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court in California to block the acquisition.

Both the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department had approved the acquisition. On the same day the approvals were announced, Nexstar said it had begun operating Tegna's stations. The FCC granted Nexstar a waiver of ownership limits without holding a commission vote, stating that the agency's media bureau approved it. The FCC has said it has authority to waive those ownership limits.

"They rushed to close the transaction, apparently hoping this could avoid judicial review. In fact, it seems to have inflamed the judge and resulted in a more harsh ruling than might have otherwise been the case," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a public interest media lawyer.

The acquisition gives Nexstar control of 265 local television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, reaching 80% of U.S. households. A 2004 federal competition law limits ownership of broadcast stations to a reach of less than 50% of U.S. households. Nexstar owns 15% of all local television stations in the United States, and the majority of its stations are affiliated with ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC.

The U.S. District Court in California consolidated multiple lawsuits into a single antitrust case alleging the acquisition violated U.S. antitrust laws by giving Nexstar excessive market power in local television.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, one of the attorneys general involved in the challenge, said, "We want a robust dissemination of ideas from different sources. And in Colorado right now, when you look at the local news market, it's important that there's rival sources."

Nexstar lead trial attorney Alex Okuliar defended the deal. "We don't think that an increase in the number of stations necessarily results in an increase in bargaining leverage," he said.

The FCC took 15 months to block Sinclair's attempted $3.9 billion takeover of Tribune Media and 10 months to approve Nexstar's earlier acquisition of Tribune Media. On the day the Tegna acquisition closed, Tegna Chief Executive Mike Steib received $22.6 million in cash, according to federal securities filings.