Byron Allen reportedly courting Democrats to derail TV-station Tegna buyout

In this article, you will get all the information regarding Byron Allen reportedly courting Democrats to derail TV-station Tegna buyout

Media mogul Byron Allen appears to be courting prominent Democratic politicians once again as he attempts to block a hedge fund’s takeover of TV station giant Tegna, according to a major Beltway research firm.

The Justice Department is potentially within days of buying hedge fund Standard General’s $8.6 billion Tegna — a publicly traded chain of 64 local TV stations that was spun off from newspaper giant Gannett in 2015.

– Advertisement –

Meanwhile Allen — who is reportedly grabbing Tegna’s nationwide broadcast empire to widen the distribution of his own nascent cable channels — on Friday spoke to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) and Minority Whip Katherine hosted an event at his Los Angeles home. Clark (D-Mass.) with guests that included Nancy Pelosi, according to deadline hollywood,

“We … would not be surprised by the forthcoming letter from politicians [at the event] Expressing concern regarding the purchase of Tegna by private equity firm Standard General to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, Washington Analysis, which advises institutional investors on DC policy, wrote in a note to clients last week that The Post Was reviewed by

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies attended an event at Allen’s Los Angeles home.

– Advertisement –

The sources said that if the DOJ approves the deal, which seems increasingly likely, it will go to the FCC and Rosenworcel will decide whether to approve it.

“Any letter to the new Democrat House leadership failing to act would be designed to put further pressure on Rosenworcel to ‘pocket veto’ the transaction,” the letter said.

A spokesperson for Allen responded in a written statement to The Post that “Mr. Allen has not spoken to Democratic Party leadership about Tegna at the party.

Jessica Rosenworcel is the chair of the FCC.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

“These claims, implications and predictions are completely false,” the spokesperson said. “Mr. Allen just opened his home to introduce the new Democratic Party leadership to his fellow Democratic Party supporters.

In an unusual move in October, Pelosi sent a letter to the fcc chairman Rosenworcel expressing “serious concerns” about the deal to buy Tegna. The letter raised eyebrows because Pelosi ignores many mergers. The sources said Tegna did not have any stations in its California district nor was the merger seen as of national importance.

In the letter, Pelosi, along with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr., said she was concerned that the deal would raise cable bills, reduce local news coverage and lead to job losses.

In a written response to the FCC, Standard General denied plans to reduce local coverage and cut station jobs, calling them speculation and stating that “the FCC has a commitment on record that it does not plan any such action.” making.”

In October, Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to FCC Chairman Rosenworcel expressing “serious concerns” about the Tegna deal.

more recently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to FCC Rosenworcel on Jan. 11 To say that the Standard General merger would result in anti-competitive behavior.

Washington Analysis wrote that former comedian Allen, whose Los Angeles-based Allen Media owns The Weather Channel, has become the “Forrest Gump” of the proposed merger, appearing at every turn of events in the deal cycle.

Washington Analysis said, “Following his failure to quickly obtain the funds needed to buy the assets, he is widely believed to have taken advantage of every opportunity available to take a shot at Standard General’s better offer.”

Last year, Allen bundled $271,300 in campaign donations to Pelosi and an additional $275,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — which supports Democrat candidates for the House, The Post previously reported.

Recently, Sen. Elizabeth Warren also wrote a letter to Rosenworcel, warning of anti-competitive practices as a result.

Allen has told The Post that his “donations to several Democratic politicians and PACs that started just last year have nothing to do with Tegna and everything to protect our democracy.”

Standard General is buying Tegna and receiving financing from Apollo Global Management. The main question for the DOJ is whether Apollo will have a hand in Tegna management, the sources said. The sources said Apollo owns Cox Media Group and its 33 television stations and that a combination of it and Tegna would violate broadcast ownership rules.

The sources said DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Cantor recused himself from the merger review because of being a partner at the law firm Paul Weiss, which represented Apollo from 2016 to 2020.

Cox is contributing its Boston station, Fox affiliate WFXT, to the holding company that bought Tegna. Tegna was planning to charge WFXT fee cable distributors a higher rate than Tegna and implement that higher “retransmission” rate on all of its stations.

It is common for station owners to take their station that charges the most and use that top rate for all their stations. But Standard General has now agreed not to impose WFXT rates as a condition of getting its deal cleared, sources said.