FCC chair says no decision made on whether to lift local TV ownership cap

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr said Tuesday the commission has made no decision on whether to lift the current cap on television station ownership, which is necessary for Nexstar Media to merge with smaller rival Tegna.

Acquiring Tegna would expand Nexstar’s presence covering 80% of TV households across key geographies.

Current FCC rules limit a company from owning broadcast television stations that reach more than 39% of the U.S. television audience households but stations with weaker over-the-air signals can be partially counted against a company’s ownership cap.

(Reporting by David Shepardson)