Judge Dismisses DirecTV’s Antitrust Lawsuit Against Nexstar

(CTN News) – DirecTV has dismissed the antitrust lawsuit it filed against Nexstar a year ago as a result of a ruling by the federal court in the Southern District of New York.

According to the decision, “DirecTV’s injuries may not be sufficient to confer antitrust standing on the company as they are too indirect and speculative.”.

Moreover, in addition to this, the court asserted in its ruling that it “declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s remaining state law claims and dismisses them without prejudice.”

A lawsuit filed by DirecTV in March 2023 accuses Nexstar, America’s largest TV station operator, of engaging in a conspiracy with Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting to fix prices by charging supracompetitive retransmission consent fees.

In other words, DirecTV will be charged above market rates for their coverage of markets where Nexstar and another company provide overlapping coverage to DirecTV.

In spite of this, DirecTV refused to renew its agreements with Mission and White Knight when their contracts expired in 2022 as a result of a dispute over the amount of money they charged. In the end, this resulted in a blackout in their respective markets for customers.

Since DirecTV was not involved in an agreement with Mission or White Knight where it would have been forced to pay what the company claims is a ‘supracompetitive’ fee, it is argued that any losses it suffers from blackouts are due to its own choice to pull out of the market entirely.

The company said in a statement issued to media outlets that this ruling sets a dangerous precedent that a victim of price-fixing must pay the inflated price in order to make a claim in court. According to Variety, the company may appeal this ruling.

When it comes to the case, the company says it will allow the court’s decision to speak for itself.

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