DirecTV to appeal judge’s decision to toss its Nexstar antitrust case

DirecTV has confirmed that it will appeal a federal judge in New York’s decision to throw out its antitrust lawsuit against Nexstar Media Group.

The pay TV company has accused Nexstar of conspiring to fix broadcast retransmission license fees through management services agreements with smaller station groups Mission Broadcasting and White Knight.

Back on March 20, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York ruled that any financial injury DirecTV has suffered wasn’t caused by any price-fixing conducted by Nexstar, Mission or White Knight. Rather, damages resulted from DirecTV’s decision not to do business, starting in 2022, with Mission and White Knight stations.

“Here, Plaintiff’s injury — lost profits resulting from the blackouts—does not flow from that which makes Defendants’ acts unlawful because DirecTV does not allege that it paid anticompetitive rates but instead made the unilateral decision to abandon [retrans] negotiations,” the judge wrote in his decision. “Its losses therefore flow from its own choice to exit the market.”

DirecTV will appeal the verdict through the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cablefax originally reported this news. Inkl