Andrew Ackerman

Today we filed a lawsuit to block the largest TV merger in American history. The biggest local TV company in the country wants to buy one of its biggest competitors. Why should you care? Because it would mean paying more for TV. It would hit about half the families in North Carolina. Nationally, about 80%. If you watch Sunday afternoon football, local news, or network shows, you'd end up paying more. It would also gut local news. Fewer reporters, fewer stories, less scrutiny on state and local leaders. This company has a track record of merging newsrooms after it buys a competitor. In one city, two supposedly competing stations now share the same anchors, the same news director, and the same website. Two channels. One newsroom. The company has said it expects to make roughly $135m from raising prices and another $165m from "synergies" - i.e., laying people off. The USDOJ has historically been the one to challenge mergers like this, and it did, twice, when Nexstar tried similar mergers in 2016 and 2020. But that's not happening right now. The federal antitrust enforcers who are supposed to be policing these deals have stepped back, and that's left a void. State attorneys general are filling it. That's why eight AGs have filed this case together, and I'll keep you posted.

Pres Trump just now on Powell: "He's a stubborn, incompetent person ..." "I could have made that building beautiful for $25 million ... there is criminality. Maybe it's with the contractor ... whoever the contractor is is an extremely rich man ..."

Important to remember that this is just an opening bid. Reductions in capital will increase after banks submit comments and adjust their balance sheets to optimize capital levels under the final rule. Not crazy to think we're actually looking at 10-15% reduction in capital.

The odds of a rate HIKE at the April 28-29th Fed meeting are rising fast!