Standard General’s proposed acquisition of TEGNA is about creating one of the nation’s leading local broadcast companies and the largest minority owned, female-led broadcaster in the United States. Standard General has been clear from the beginning that it intends to grow – not shrink – the news gathering operations at our local stations, and TEGNA’s new leadership has a history of doing just that. Standard General has also emphasized that its investment in TEGNA does not depend on raising retransmission rates. That being the case, in order to address outstanding concerns that have been raised and clear the way to final approval for our transaction, Standard General submitted a series of binding and enforceable commitments to regulators to formalize what we have intended and communicated from the beginning: the transaction will be a win for employees, a win for local news gathering, a win for the local broadcast ecosystem and its MVPDs, and above all, a win for the communities our stations will serve.

Our commitments include:

  • Standard General waived its contractual rights to apply after-acquired retransmission rates to the TEGNA stations, ensuring that MVPDs’ current contracts with TEGNA can continue to apply after closing.
  • Standard General committed to maintain current newsroom staffing for a minimum of two years, addressing speculative and unfounded claims by opponents that the transaction would result in substantial losses of journalism jobs at TEGNA. In a letter to the FCC, Standard General noted its plans to expand stations’ news resources, and volunteered to the FCC that it is willing to report any newsroom layoffs that might occur after that two-year period.
  • Standard General, Apollo and CMG agreed to all of the conditions on the transaction requested by NCTA. Specifically, the companies committed not to enter into Joint Sales, Shared Services, or Local Marketing agreements between TEGNA stations and CMG stations after closing, as well as committing not to engage in joint or coordinated retransmission consent agreement negotiations.