Regulator seeks extra paperwork in Commonplace Normal’s $5.4 billion Tegna deal By Reuters

(Reuters) -The Federal Communications Fee (FCC) on Thursday requested funding agency Commonplace Normal to provide additional details about its proposed $5.4 billion takeover of U.S. broadcaster Tegna Inc.

The FCC mentioned it wanted additional data so as to overview functions searching for consent to switch management of Tegna’s subsidiaries, which personal a number of licenses, to Commonplace Normal.

Tegna, which owns 64 information manufacturers in 51 U.S. markets, had agreed to be acquired by Commonplace Normal in a $5.4 billion all-cash deal in February.

Commonplace Normal “has persistently confirmed that its plans for post-closing Tegna don’t contain station-level layoffs,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement to Reuters.

Tegna didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Commonplace Normal, which is Tegna’s third-largest shareholder, had nominated 4 members to the corporate’s board in 2020, arguing the inventory had underperformed and modifications had been wanted.

Deb McDermott, presently the chief govt officer of Commonplace Media, will turn out to be CEO of Tegna.

“We simply want to be handled like everybody else,” McDermott mentioned on Thursday, referring to the FCC course of.

The regulator, which had requested for different further data in June, added that candidates had been anticipated to answer the knowledge request earlier than the Oct. 13 deadline.