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.
