The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear Nexstar Media Group’s effort to stop an antitrust lawsuit brought by DirecTV over negotiations for local television rebroadcast rights.
The denial leaves in place a federal appeals court decision that revived DirecTV’s claims. The satellite provider alleges that Nexstar and two other station owners coordinated their conduct in ways that deprived it of a competitive process when negotiating fees for channels in particular markets. The defendants dispute the allegations and argued that the complaint did not describe an actionable injury.
A central issue in the lower courts was whether DirecTV could pursue the case even though it did not pay the allegedly inflated prices at the centre of the claimed scheme. The appeals court concluded that the company had adequately alleged a different form of harm: lost profits and weakened bargaining conditions resulting from the asserted coordination.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to take the petition is not a ruling that the allegations are true and does not endorse every part of the lower court’s reasoning. It means the appellate judgment remains controlling and the case returns to the trial court for further proceedings, including factual development and any later motions.
The dispute sits at the intersection of antitrust law and a broadcast market already under pressure from cord-cutting, consolidation and repeated carriage disputes. Its next phase will test whether DirecTV can support its theory with evidence of agreement and measurable injury rather than inference alone.
