Nexstar sued by minority-owned Marshall Broadcasting Group for Sabotage Efforts
Summary
While the FCC was led to believe that the sale would further the commissions objective of increasing ethnic diversity in ownership of broadcast stations, as soon as the arrangement was inked Nexstar sought to sabotage and undermine MBGs operations to decrease its worth. Despite the FCCs mandate to make the public airwaves available to all citizens without regard for "race, color, religion, national origin, or sex," the U.S. broadcast industry suffers from a pitiable shortage of minority owners. If allowed to go unchecked, it could affect ALL minority owned businesses in the telecommunications space," said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., President & CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). "This behavior is a road map on how to use minority-owned businesses for companies own gain and squash diverse programming once the ink on the deal is dry," continued Chavis. "Failing to act will embolden companies to go after the handful of remaining minority-owned stations and scare away prospective minority owners."