This Will Piss Off Nexstar Employees

n 2025, Nexstar Media Group employees navigated a year of stagnant wages, with many receiving no raise at all or modest increases of just 1% to 1.5%. However, while the company tightened its belt in the newsroom, it opened its coffers in Washington, launching a massive $3.2 million lobbying blitz—roughly ten times its average annual spend over the previous five years. This surge in spending was aimed squarely at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to dismantle ownership limits that currently prevent any single company from controlling more than 39% of the national television market.

The primary objective of this high-priced influence campaign is to secure a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna. Under current rules, Nexstar uses a "UHF discount" loophole to officially claim a 39% reach, even though its actual footprint covers 70% of American households. To bridge the gap between regulation and ambition, Nexstar hired Jeff Miller, a lobbyist with deep ties to the Trump administration, paying his firm $510,000 in 2025. Combined with Tegna’s own spending, the two companies funneled over $1 million to Miller’s firm alone to push the deal through.

The strategy appears to be working. Shortly before a congressional hearing on the merger, President Trump reversed his previous opposition to the deal, social-mediating the command: "GET THAT DEAL DONE!" While the administration frames this as a win for deregulation, critics like former ABC producer Tom Bettag argue it is a calculated move to centralize media ownership and control the national narrative. For the thousands of Nexstar employees watching their purchasing power erode, the message from the corporate office is clear: there is always money available to expand the empire, even when there is none left for the people who build it.