The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved a television license exchange that will give E.W. Scripps Co. control of the majority of stations in Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Grand Junction.
The trade with Gray Media is part of a strategic plan announced last summer intended to bolster Scripps’ sports and local news reporting in the West. Scripps will give Gray Media its stations in Lansing and Onondaga, Michigan, along with one in Lafayette, Louisiana. No money changes hands in the swap.
The transaction allows Scripps to add KKTV, the CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs, and KKCO, the NBC affiliate in Grand Junction and the low-power ABC affiliate KJCT, to its existing Colorado holdings: KMGH Denver 7, an ABC affiliate, and KOAA the NBC affiliate in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. It will now own two out of three stations in the Colorado Springs/Pueblo and Grand Junction markets.
The FCC ruled that the station swap does not violate the Local Television Ownership Rule known as the “Top Four” rule that prohibited one company from owning two of the top four stations in a local market (also known as the Top Four Prohibition). That rule, established in 1996, was to protect markets from monopolies. But an 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision in July 2025 vacated the rule.
Following that decision, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the rule “has only made it harder for trusted and local sources of news and information to compete in today’s media environment.”
“For decades, the FCC’s approach to regulating the broadcast industry has failed to promote the public interest,” wrote Carr who has called for dismantling the ownership rule, and dissented in the 2023 decision that retained the rule during the Biden administration.
A different TV ownership rule was waived for Tegna-Nexstar deal
The FCC waived a different part of the ownership rule before approving the merger of Nexstar Media Group and Tegna. That rule limits the percentage of stations one company can own nationwide.
The Scripps deal was announced July 7, prior to the announcement of the $6.2 billion Nexstar Media and Tegna deal that was challenged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California earlier this year
That merger is currently on hold after DirecTV and eight attorneys generals, including Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, won a preliminary injunction to stop the deal while a case challenging its legality works its way through the courts. That deal would concentrate 80% of U.S. television households under a single network.
Plaintiffs in the case argue the merger would create a monopoly that would lead to higher prices for consumers and negatively impact local journalism across the country.
If the merger is completed, it would end with the consolidation of KUSA 9News and KDVR Fox31 in Denver.
When the Scripps swap was announced, the company announced plans to expand local news and sports coverage in the two markets. They also indicated to staff plans to consolidate newsrooms and facilities, which could include layoffs.
University of Denver law professor Christopher Beall described the FCC’s decision on the swap as predictable.
The decision in the 8th Circuit shows that courts have been persuaded by arguments that competitors outside broadcast stations (internet, streaming services and others) outweigh any past justification for the ownership rules, Beall said.
“In today’s legal landscape, the federal courts have become quite hostile to federal regulation that attempts to prevent or limit media ownership concentration,” he said.
Beall said as a result audiences should expect to see more ownership consolidations not less.
The Colorado Sun reached out to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
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