Will Mergers Reshape The Indy Television News Market?

COMPETITION COULD DROP 60 PERCENT. If approved by the Federal Communications Commission, local television newsrooms could change dramatically. The WISH and WRTV merger and Nexstar’s proposed acquisition of Tegna would reduce the number of
local station owners from five to two.

THE RULES ARE CHANGING. Current FCC regulations stipulate that a company can own a maximum of two television stations in a market. Nexstar, which operates both WXIN and WTTV out of one building on Indianapolis’ northwest side, is at that limit. The proposed Nexstar deal with Tegna also violates the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule, which limits station groups to 39-percent reach of the total national audience. The merger, which comes with a price tag of $6.2 billion, would grant Nexstar control of an additional 64 television stations nationwide, giving it 54.5 percent of the national audience. That may not be an obstacle. Last year, President Trump appointed Brendan Carr, who has been supportive of deregulation, to head the FCC. “Carr has been arguing that current ownership limits are already obsolete,” says retired Ball State associate professor and TV news veteran Phil Bremen. “But Trump appears wary of the merger. In November, the president reposted an article from the ultra-conservative outlet Newsmax, which labeled Nexstar as ‘anti-Trump.’”

SINCLAIR WOULD BE BLOCKED. In the meantime, experts say the WISH/WRTV merger is likely to gain FCC approval quicker because it doesn’t violate current federal ownership rules. It would also effectively stop Sinclair, the third-largest TV ownership group in the country, from entering the Indianapolis market. Sinclair’s bid to purchase Scripps was rejected in December.

NATIONAL AFFILIATES CARRY MORE WEIGHT. While it’s probable that WRTV and WISH would unify into one newsroom, WRTV would likely get more local support because of its already-established spot as an ABC affiliate. “WRTV is available on DirecTV,” says former longtime Indianapolis political reporter Jim Shella. “WISH is not. WRTV simply has a bigger audience reach.” 

MONEY TALKS. “The fact of the matter is that the advertising money has gone to the internet, and so you’ve got to react somehow,” says Shella. “But while other corporations are getting out of the television business, Nexstar is expanding and doing it with a cost-cutting approach, and so what you’re eventually getting is a lesser product.” 

THE “GOOD” NEWS MAY DWINDLE. Coverage that is narrower and of lesser quality might not be immediately noticeable to the audience. However, sales and mergers in the last decade have led to fewer resources at the local level already. “If we end up with a circumstance here where Circle City Broadcasting owns two stations and Nexstar owns three, you don’t have five different stations competing. You have two entities, so you’ve eliminated much of the competition,” says Shella. “In the case of every one of those stations, they have cut staff in the last couple of years, so you already have fewer reporters on the street.” Simply put, Shella says reduced resources invariably lead to fewer stories outside the immediate news of the day being covered. Rigorous fact-checking might also be a casualty. Several high-profile departures have already happened at WISH, with meteorologist Jeremy Jenkins leaving as part of a large staff exodus early last fall and anchor Scott Sander retiring in November. 

NEWS “DESERTS” KEEP EXPANDING. The concerns regarding accountability and accurate reporting go beyond screens. According to a 2020 survey from the University of North Carolina, 40 out of Indiana’s 92 counties were served by just one local newspaper. “Crawford County had no newspaper at all in 2020, much less local TV,” says Bremen. “Without a doubt, that picture is even grimmer today.” Bremen’s assessment is correct—2025 data from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism shows five Indiana counties currently have no dedicated local newspaper: Floyd, Switzerland, Ohio, Vermillion, and Porter. 

OPTIMISM CAN BE FOUND ONLINE. In the last decade, several digital-only news sites have emerged at the state level and established themselves as reputable sources. “The Indiana Capital Chronicle, Mirror Indy, and The Indiana Citizen here in Indianapolis are very helpful, particularly in keeping us informed about state and local government,” says Bremen.

CONSOLIDATION won’t end the careers of your favorite TV Personalities … YET. If both mergers are approved, viewers are less likely to notice the changes—at least at first. “I don’t think consolidation will kill local television any more than TV killed radio,” says Bremen. “But it may hasten the drop-off in local TV viewership.”

IT’S NOT A DONE DEAL. Tegna shareholders already approved the Nexstar deal, and Scripps already signed off on the sale of WRTV to Circle City Broadcasting. Both transactions still require FCC approval to move forward and may not be ironed out until the latter half of this year. 

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