Nexstar Media Group Faces Another FCC Complaint Days After Inciting Largest Blackout in Media History

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Television Alliance (ATVA) issued a statement in response to a new FCC complaint by Hawaiian Telecom against Nexstar Media Group for blacking out six channels during active negotiations around its retransmission consent agreement.

“Nexstar wants Hawaiian Telecom to pay 70 percent more for the same programming. On top of that, Nexstar’s rates have already increased five times more than the rate of inflation in Hawai’i. This is not sustainable for anyone who won’t trust an over-the-air broadcast signal to reliably deliver their local television and the FCC must act to curtail these brazen tactics and provide programming to consumers at a reasonable expense,” said ATVA spokesperson Cora Mandy.

The complaint comes just days after DIRECTV filed its own with the FCC against America’s biggest broadcaster for its attempt to further expand its sham “sidecars” through Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting to evade television ownership rules and overcharge consumers. Days later, Nexstar incited the largest blackout in media history, cutting access to the 200 local channels it either owns or controls in more than 100 metro regions, affecting millions of DIRECTV subscribers.

This is just another example of Nexstar’s abuse of its viewers. In the last year alone, Nexstar’s excessive demands have threatened or removed stations from DIRECTV (Oct. 2022), Verizon FIOS (Oct. 2022), Comcast Xfinity (Dec. 2022), DISH Network (Jan. 2023), FuboTV (Feb.-March 2023), Altice USA-Optimum (March 2023) and far further on DIRECTV (July 2023).

Hawaiian Telcom customers can learn more and provide feedback at hawaiiantel.com/tvupdates.

Read more from DIRECTV’s FCC complaint against Nexstar here.

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