00:00Well, to the point of federal regulation being more loose, the FCC is set to repeal the audience cap.
00:06And I wonder what exactly that means, because it's being framed as sort of a win for some of the
00:11dealmakers attempting to push that through, specifically Nextar.
00:15Yeah, so one read through from that is if you do get rid of this 39% cap on reaching
00:21broadcast audiences,
00:22that could pave the way for other broadcasters beyond Nextar and Tegna to pursue their own M&A.
00:29There are others out there, including Sinclair, Scripps, that haven't done M&A yet.
00:32This could make it easier for them to do that.
00:34But at the end of the day, the FCC already suspended this 39% cap when they cleared the Nextar
00:42-Tegna deal.
00:43Nextar-Tegna together control 80% of U.S. households.
00:47And what this means is courts are really going to be the ones to determine whether it can be lifted.
00:53There's scrutiny or disagreement about whether it's Congress or the FCC that can actually make this decision.
00:59There's a court case next year that will decide whether Nextar and Tegna can actually close this deal.
01:06And so this development just means that it could be a little harder for them to keep the deal from
01:10closing.
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