A federal court on Wednesday granted Nexstar’s motion to dismiss DirecTV’s antitrust claims. Cablefax reported the court ruled there was a lack of antitrust standing.
DirecTV claimed Nexstar violated federal antitrust law by engaging in an illegal conspiracy with partners Mission and White Knight to manipulate, raise, and fix prices of retransmission consent fees.
DirecTV had Nexstar were blacked out for two months last year before reaching a retransmission consent renewal. But it hasn’t reached renewals with Nexstar’s shared services partners Mission or White Knight, with those stations off its lineup since October 2022.
The opinion by judge Kevin Castel said that DirecTV did not enter into deals with Mission or White Knight that would have required it to pay what it alleges to be “supracompetitive” fees.
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