A federal judge in California on Friday temporarily blocked a merger between broadcasters Nexstar and TEGNA that has been challenged by DirectTV and a group of attorneys general.
As part of his ruling, which came late Friday, Judge Troy L. Nunley ordered Nexstar to cease combining its operations with TEGNA until future legal proceedings play out.
In a statement, Nexstar said it plans to appeal Nunley's ruling.
"This transaction closed more than four weeks ago following receipt of all required regulatory approvals from the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. Nexstar Media Group now owns TEGNA and has taken steps consistent with the Court order that has been in effect," a spokesperson for the company said.
"For nearly thirty years, Nexstar has provided free over-the-air access to all its broadcast stations -- local news, weather, and community-focused programming alongside major network programming," they added.
Calling the transaction "pro-competitive," Nexstar said the deal will "make local stations stronger and support continued investment in local journalism and fact-based news."
"We will appeal today's decision and look forward to presenting our case on its merits before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals," the spokesperson wrote.
In March, Nexstar announced its purchase of TEGNA had won approval from President Trump's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice, clearing the way for the company to secure a presence in more than 70 percent of local news markets nationwide.
Hours before the company announced the Trump administration had approved the deal, a group of eight Democratic state attorneys general sued to stop the merger.
The deal, the AGs argued, would put "more broadcast programming in the hands of fewer people, removing control from the communities they report to, cutting local jobs, and significantly impacting the delivery of news and other media content to Americans nationwide."
Cable provider DirectTV filed its own lawsuit against Nexstar the same day, alleging the deal violates federal antitrust laws and would "significantly harm consumers."
Nunley consolidated the two cases on March 31.
Already the largest provider of local news in the country, Nexstar has countered its purchase of TEGNA is necessary in order for it to compete in the modern media ecosystem with major tech companies like Amazon, Google and Apple.
The broadcast company also owns The Hill and cable channel NewsNation.
Trump has voiced support for the deal, writing in a Truth Social post before it cleared the FCC and DOJ that it would "help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level."
FCC Chair Brendan Carr, in announcing his department had waived the local ownership cap for local television stations allowing the merger to clear, said Nexstar had had made "concrete commitments" on "affordability, localism," and what it said is a "commitment to divest a number of TV stations."