Nyse Order Imbalance 220893.0 Shares On Sell Side

By Nicholas G. Miller

E.W. Scripps received an unsolicited acquisition bid from Sinclair and said it would carefully review and evaluate the proposal.

Last week, Sinclair disclosed that it had built a roughly 8% stake in Scripps and that the two companies held constructive talks about a potential deal.

After Sinclair's disclosure, Scripps said its board would "take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company's shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else."

Scripps said it doesn't plan to comment further on the bid until its board has completed a review.

The Cincinnati company's shares rose 8.5%, to $4.47. Sinclair slipped 0.8%, to $15.53 a share.

Broadcast television companies have been trying to consolidate, believing that larger scale would allow them to compete better against other media and tech companies.

With cable TV subscribers continually opting for streaming services, local stations are receiving less advertising revenue and smaller payments from cable companies. More stations, especially in the same markets, would give operators better bargaining power to negotiate higher fees from cable companies and lower retransmission rates from national TV companies, analysts say.

Nexstar, the largest television broadcaster in the U.S., agreed in August to acquire its rival Tegna for $6.2 billion. The agreement came after The Wall Street Journal reported Sinclair was seeking a merger with Tegna.

Broadcasters such as Nexstar and Sinclair have been pushing the Federal Communications Commission to remove a rule that prohibits one company from owning TV stations that reach more than 39% of the nation's TV households.

Write to Nicholas G. Miller at nicholas.miller@wsj.com

By Elias Schisgall

Tegna shares fell after President Trump cast doubt on whether the Federal Communications Commission would clear Nexstar's $6.2 billion bid to acquire the local-TV conglomerate.

Shares of Tegna were down 4.1% to $19.15 in afternoon trading. Shares are up 4.7% for the year.

In a Sunday post on Truth Social, Trump slammed efforts to ease the FCC's cap limiting any company from owning TV stations that reach more than 39% of the country. Nexstar's acquisition of Tegna would reach 60% of American households, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

"​​NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS," Trump posted, including a link to an article criticizing the Nexstar deal. "If anything, make them SMALLER!"

Nexstar filed an application to acquire Tegna's stations with the FCC last Tuesday, the Journal reported. The deal must also clear an antitrust review from the Justice Department.

Write to Elias Schisgall at elias.schisgall@wsj.com