Kansas AG Kobach is at odds with President Trump over TV station mega-merger
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- AG Kobach joined a multi-state challenge in California to block the Nexstar‑Tegna merger.
- The amended complaint alleges the merger would diminish competition and raise prices.
- Judge issued a preliminary injunction halting Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has broken with President Donald Trump over a mega-merger between two television station conglomerates that could combine forces to reach approximately 80% of U.S. households, according to estimates cited in federal court documents.
The Republican attorney general on Thursday announced that he had signed onto a bipartisan multi-state challenge in California attempting to block the merger between Nexstar and Tegna because he believes the deal violates federal antitrust law.
“This merger would increase prices of television services for Kansas consumers,” Kobach said in a press release. “The resulting lack of competition will drive up prices.
“We also are concerned about the reduction in the diversity of viewpoints,” he added. “These aren’t Republican or Democratic issues. They are American issues.”
Kobach joined the challenge two weeks after U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley issued a preliminary injunction halting Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna during the ongoing court case.
The merger has already been approved by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice. In February, Trump took to social media to express enthusiasm for the deal, which required the FCC to waive a rule adopted by Congress in 2004 that bars any one television company from owning local stations that reach more than 39% of U.S. households.
“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks,” Trump posted on Feb. 7. “Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar - Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level.”
Fight over media consolidation
Nexstar, already the nation’s largest television station conglomerate, manages seven stations that operate in Kansas’ designated market areas, according to Kobach’s release. The company’s website shows that it has stations in Topeka, Wichita and Kansas City, as well as Joplin, Springfield and St. Louis.
Tegna, the nation’s third-largest TV station conglomerate, only operates one station across the Kansas and Missouri region — KSDK in St. Louis.
According to court documents, if the merger is allowed to proceed, the resulting corporate entity will own 264 TV stations across the country.
In an amended complaint filed on Thursday, the coalition of state attorneys general led by California’s Rob Bonta alleged that the merger violates federal antitrust law by substantially diminishing competition and reducing consumer options while increasing prices for various television services.
In addition to Bonta and Kobach, the court challenge now includes Democratic attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia, and Republican attorneys general from Indiana and Pennsylvania.
This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 1:41 PM.
