On March 27, 2026, Chief Judge Troy L. Nunley of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a satellite cable company’s (“plaintiff”) motion for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) against two of the largest local broadcast station owners (collectively “defendants”) to stop the integration and consolidation of second largest local broadcast station owner (“target company”) with the first largest local broadcast station owner (“defendant” and collectively with the target company, “defendants”). Plaintiff sued to block defendant’s acquisition of target company, alleging that the merger would substantially lessen competition for retransmission consent licenses, the rights that TV distributors buy to carry Big Four (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) network content. DIRECTV, LLC v. Nexstar Media Grp., Inc., No. 2:26-cv-00976-TLN-CKD (E.D. Cal. Mar. 27, 2026).