Nexstar Media Group is asking the Federal Communications Commission to cancel its order that WPIX New York be divested by Mission Broadcasting, claiming that the agreements under which Nexstar runs the station for Mission are legal and approved by the commission.
Nexstar also wants a $1.2 million fine levied against it by the FCC canceled. Mission was also fined $612,395 as part of the commission’s Notice of Apparent Liability.
“Through the NAL, the Commission seeks to wield its enforcement authority in a myriad of improper ways,” Nexstar said in its response.
Nexstar said the FCC ignored its prior approval of WPIX’s arrangements with the station group, deviated from previous commission rulings and misapplied certain financial regulations.
Mission said it also filed a response to the FCC's action. The response was not made public.
In March, after complaints from Comcast and others, the FCC ruled that Nexstar had taken de facto control of WPIX in violation of the agency’s rules. It said that Nexstar both ran the station and received the economic gains from its operation.
Control of WPIX puts Nexstar over the limit for how much of the country its stations can reach. As a result, The FCC gave Mission 12 months to either sell the station to an independent party or to Nexstar. If it sells to Nexstar, the company must divest some of its other stations to get under the cap.
Nexstar acquired WPIX when it bought Tribune Broadcasting in 2020 and sold an option to buy the station to the E.W. Scripps Co. Mission later acquired the option and bought WPIX. Mission and Nexstar reached agreements enabling Nexstar to run and program the stations and sell its ad inventory.
In its response, Nexstar said the commission “argues that Nexstar violated the Communications Act by performing the express terms of agreements that the FCC previously reviewed and approved. It seeks to rewrite FCC rules without a notice-and-comment rulemaking proceeding.”
Nexstar charges the FCC with creating new regulatory requirements without prior notice or due process and applying “vague” standards.
“After reaching these flawed legal conclusions, the Commission then decides, without any forewarning, that it has the authority to propose divestitures as part of an NAL, in addition to proposing an unprecedented forfeiture for a purported violation of the national ownership cap,” Nexstar said.
"The NAL is not only unfair in its treatment of Nexstar, Mission, and the community that WPIX serves (of whose interests the Commission takes no consideration), but also is unjust to the broadcast industry and the FCC-regulated community at large,” Nexstar added.
“What the Commission tells its regulatees in the NAL is that they may take no comfort in their settled expectations based on approval, precedent and compliance with the rules, because the Commission may revoke such approval, ignore its precedent or change its rules without warning,” Nexstar said.
