Key facts
- The Supreme Court declined to hear Nexstar Media Group's appeal.
- DirecTV sued Nexstar and two station owners for allegedly inflating content-distribution fees.
- DirecTV claims the companies violated antitrust law by conspiring to demand high fees.
- Nexstar argued that DirecTV has no right to sue because it refused to pay the alleged inflated prices.
- The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated DirecTV's antitrust claims.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by Nexstar Media Group, which owns numerous local television stations, to block an antitrust suit by DirecTV challenging allegedly inflated content-distribution fees. The justices turned away Nexstar's appeal of a lower court's decision to reinstate DirecTV's lawsuit in federal court in New York City.
DirecTV alleged in its 2023 lawsuit that Nexstar and two station owners violated antitrust law by depriving it of a competitive process for rights to rebroadcast certain channels in specific markets. DirecTV accused the three companies of secretly working together to demand artificially high fees, in violation of antitrust law.
DirecTV refused to pay the prices, and some stations went dark for a million DirecTV subscribers. DirecTV says thousands of customers canceled their subscriptions as a result, and the company lost revenue.
Nexstar has argued that a company can sue over price-fixing only if it actually pays allegedly inflated prices. DirecTV, according to Nexstar, has no right to sue.
A federal judge dismissed Nexstar's lawsuit. But the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in December that DirecTV could pursue its antitrust claims based on its allegations of lost profits when it was unable to distribute those channels.
Nexstar told the Supreme Court in a filing that the 2nd Circuit's ruling conflicts with decisions by other federal appeals courts. DirecTV disputed that any conflict exists.