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Update at 5:55 pm on January 14: Adds a standard general comment.
General norm sent a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) seeking a meeting regarding her comments on the Tegna (New York Stock Exchange: TGNA) negotiate.
The letter comes later Warren sent a letter Wednesday to the Federal Communications Commission asking the agency to block Standard General’s acquisition of Tegna. News of the letter sent Tegna shares tumbling 3.3% on Thursday and lower marking 0.7% on Friday.
“We appreciate Senator Warren’s concerns and are confident that through our binding commitments and the rationale for this transaction we have amply addressed them,” Standard General said in an emailed statement to Seeking Alpha. “This transaction will protect local newsroom jobs across the country, enhance investment in local television broadcasting and newsgathering, and preserve competition in the marketplace, while creating the company’s nation’s largest minority-owned, female-led broadcaster.
Warren’s push comes after Standard General last month offered some remedies to regulators, including waiving certain contractual rights in an effort to appease regulators from the FCC and the Justice Department.
Warren argued in the letter that behavioral remedies “are historically ineffective and should not provide reassurance that these Wall Street firms will not engage in anti-competitive practices once the deal is complete.”
News of Standard General’s letter to Warren was previously reported in a DealReporter tweet.
Dealreporter last month that Standard General’s offer would likely resolve the concerns of the FCC and the Justice Department.
