A Free Press study criticizing TV joint sales...

A Free Press study criticizing TV joint sales agreements (CD March 11 p11) relies on “irrelevant facts, misleading or partial citations” and “outright false statements,” said Nexstar in an ex parte response to the FCC filed Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1iad6nz). “Nexstar and its relationship partners are far from absentee owners who operate to evade the commission’s rules for the sole purpose of maximizing profit at the expense of their stations’ local communities.” The study doesn’t provide “one single fact” supporting Free Press’s claims that sharing agreements are used to exercise “de facto control” over TV stations in markets where outright purchase of the stations wouldn’t be allowed by the FCC, Nexstar said. The broadcaster said it doesn’t enter into network affiliation agreements or syndication contracts on behalf of its affiliated company Mission Broadcasting. Nexstar also disputed Free Press contentions that because the SEC treats Nexstar as owning Mission, the FCC should as well. The two agencies are “examining different things,” Nexstar said. The broadcaster also took aim at a letter criticizing sharing arrangements submitted to the FCC by several multichannel video programming distributors, including DirecTV and Time Warner Cable. If the FCC bans joint negotiation in retransmission consent deals, Mission will have to hire its own staff for such negotiations, the cost of which will be passed on to MVPDs, Nexstar said.