Owns 64 local TV stations, mostly in the biggest U.S. political markets, where federal rules force campaign ads to run through them.
Tegna owns 64 television stations across the United States, each holding an FCC licence that gives it the exclusive legal right to broadcast on a specific frequency in a specific city. Because FCC rules cap ownership at two stations per market, and Tegna is already at that ceiling in eight of the ten largest U.S. political markets — including Washington D.C. and Atlanta — no competitor can simply buy its way into those markets to add supply. Federal Election Commission rules then require political campaigns to purchase airtime on licensed broadcast stations specifically, so every Senate or presidential race running in those cities must spend through one of Tegna's stations, producing the sharp revenue spikes that arrive every two years with the election calendar. The whole structure depends on those FCC rules staying in place — if regulators loosened the ownership ceiling or altered spectrum assignments in major markets, a new licenced competitor could enter and split the audience that currently makes each Tegna station the only place a campaign can go.
How does this company make money?
The main revenue source is advertising: local and national companies pay per 30-second slot, with the price set by Nielsen ratings. Cable and satellite distributors like Cox Communications and Comcast pay a monthly fee for every subscriber who receives the stations — these are called retransmission consent fees. The company also earns money from digital advertising sold through each station's website and streaming platforms.
What makes this company hard to replace?
Advertisers and distributors face real structural barriers to leaving. Multi-year network affiliation agreements with NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX are tied to specific stations and cannot simply be handed to a competing broadcaster. FCC broadcast licences must be renewed every eight years and require proof of community service, giving each station a regulatory track record that a new entrant cannot instantly replicate. Emergency alert system links are also built directly into agreements with local authorities, making a clean switch operationally complicated.
What limits this company?
FCC rules bar any single company from owning more than two stations in the same city. The company is already at that limit in its most valuable markets, including Washington D.C. and Atlanta. It cannot buy its way into more coverage in those cities — there are simply no more licences available to it there.
What does this company depend on?
The company cannot operate without FCC broadcast licences that assign each station its specific frequency. It relies on Nielsen to measure audiences, because those ratings set the price of every ad sold. Network affiliation agreements with NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX supply the programming that draws viewers. Retransmission consent agreements with cable and satellite distributors generate a steady monthly income stream. And local news talent under multi-year contracts staffs the newsrooms that keep ratings up.
Who depends on this company?
Cox Communications and Comcast would lose local programming for their cable customers if retransmission consent negotiations broke down. Local political candidates are legally required under FEC rules to use licensed broadcast stations to reach voters, so they have no alternative during campaigns. Emergency management agencies in each market also depend on these stations to push Emergency Alert System warnings during natural disasters.
How does this company scale?
The company's national ad sales operation and shared technology platforms can serve all 64 stations without much added cost as the network grows. But local news cannot scale the same way — every market requires its own anchors, reporters, and newsroom, physically present in that city, because local content cannot be produced remotely or automated.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
When the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, local businesses cut advertising budgets, which reduces spot ad revenue. Cord-cutting — people cancelling cable and satellite TV in favor of broadband streaming — shrinks the number of pay-TV subscribers, which directly reduces the monthly retransmission fees distributors pay. FCC spectrum repack mandates can force stations to move their transmitters to different frequencies, which requires significant capital spending.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
If the FCC changed its spectrum rules — by ordering transmitter relocations through a new repack mandate, loosening the two-station-per-market ownership ceiling, or making it easier to transfer licences — it could either force costly moves that disrupt audience measurement continuity or let a new competitor into markets the company currently controls exclusively, which would destroy the scarcity that makes political ad revenue so concentrated.
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