Supreme Court Rejects Nexstar Bid to Block DirecTV Antitrust Lawsuit

Barchart·10/05/2026 19:22:08

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by Nexstar Media Group ($NXST) seeking to block an antitrust lawsuit brought by DirecTV over allegedly inflated television distribution fees, leaving a lower-court ruling that revived the case in place.

• DirecTV alleges Nexstar and two other station owners secretly coordinated to demand artificially high fees for rights to retransmit local television stations.
• DirecTV refused to pay the disputed prices, resulting in some stations going dark for roughly one million subscribers and, according to DirecTV, thousands of customer cancellations.
• A federal judge initially dismissed the lawsuit, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December that DirecTV could pursue claims based on alleged lost profits.
• Nexstar argued DirecTV lacked standing because it never paid the allegedly inflated prices.
• Nexstar and its subsidiaries and partners own or operate 265 stations across 132 U.S. markets.

Relevant Companies

• Nexstar Media Group ($NXST) - The Supreme Court's decision allows DirecTV's antitrust lawsuit against the company to proceed.

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story. This article may be updated as more details become available.

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