Another day, another major media merger. The Nexstar Media Group, already the largest owner of broadcast television stations in the U.S., announced yesterday that they will be purchasing Tegna, Inc. for $6.2 billion. There are a few key areas to look for the next set of developments, from regulatory changes to sports rights shifts to a further rethinking of the broadcast network and affiliate relationships.

These aren’t companies that galvanize public attention quite like the owners of the major networks and studios, but there are a lot of interesting moving parts here. Nexstar is a network owner itself, having taken control of The CW from Paramount in 2022. It owns a lesser-known and lightly rated cable news network, NewsNation, whose main claim to fame is a high-profile former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, as well as a pair of “diginets,” or multicast networks, which deliver a heavy dose of