Eight states ask US judge to temporarily block Nexstar, Tegna merger

March 20 (Reuters) - Eight states asked a U.S. judge ‌on Friday to ‌issue a temporary restraining order to ​stop the $3.5 billion merger of Nexstar Media Group and Tegna.

On Thursday, the local ‌broadcast station ⁠owners received merger approval from the Federal ⁠Communications Commission and the U.S. Justice Department and ​said they ​had closed ​the transaction.

The ‌states argue that the deal, which would create the largest broadcast station group in the U.S., would "put more ‌broadcast programming in ​the hands of ​fewer ​people, cut local ‌jobs, increase cable bills, ​and ​significantly impact the delivery of news and other ​media ‌content to Americans nationwide."

(Reporting by ​David Shepardson; Editing by ​Mark Porter)