The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from Nexstar Media Group, allowing an antitrust lawsuit filed by satellite provider DirecTV to move forward in a lower court. The lawsuit alleges that Nexstar and other television station owners illegally conspired to raise the fees that pay-TV providers must pay to broadcast their channels.
The court’s decision, issued without comment, lets stand a ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that revived DirecTV’s legal challenge. The case will now return to a federal district court for further proceedings.
At the center of the dispute are retransmission consent fees, which cable and satellite companies like DirecTV pay to broadcasters such as Nexstar for the right to carry their signals, including local affiliates of major networks like ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC.
In its lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, DirecTV accused Nexstar of orchestrating a price-fixing scheme with other broadcasters, including Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting. According to DirecTV’s court filings, these companies, which Nexstar often manages under local agreements, coordinated negotiation strategies to demand higher fees than they could have secured individually. DirecTV alleges this coordination violates federal antitrust laws.
Nexstar, the largest owner of local television stations in the U.S., sought to have the lawsuit dismissed. The company argued in court filings that its communications with the other broadcasters were protected activities related to petitioning the government, a right shielded from certain antitrust claims.
A federal judge initially dismissed DirecTV’s lawsuit. However, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision last year, ruling that DirecTV had presented sufficient allegations of an illegal conspiracy to allow the case to proceed. Nexstar then appealed to the Supreme Court, asking it to review the 7th Circuit’s decision. By denying the appeal, the Supreme Court leaves the appellate court’s ruling in place.
The decision is not a ruling on the merits of DirecTV’s allegations but rather on whether the lawsuit can continue.
Following the court’s announcement, a DirecTV spokesperson said the company was pleased with the decision, stating that broadcasters “should not be able to ENACT anti-consumer price-fixing schemes.”
In a statement, Nexstar expressed disappointment with the court’s decision not to hear the case but stated its confidence that “the judicial system will ultimately conclude that it has complied with all applicable antitrust laws.”
