Byron Allen reportedly wooing Democrats to thwart Tegna purchase

Media mogul Byron Allen appears to be wooing major Democratic politicians again in an attempt to stop the hedge fund’s acquisition of TV broadcaster Tegna, according to prominent research firm Beltway.

The Justice Department is days away from hedge fund Standard General’s $8.6 billion buyout of Tegna, a publicly traded network of 64 local TV channels that was spun off in 2015 from newspaper giant Gannett.

Meanwhile, Allen, who was reportedly trying to take over Tegna’s nationwide broadcasting empire to expand distribution for his own nascent cable channels, hosted an event at his Los Angeles home on Friday for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Katherine. Clark, Massachusetts, with guests including Nancy Pelosi, Deadline Hollywood reports.

“We will not be surprised by the imminent letter from … politicians [at the event] raises concerns over private equity firm Standard General’s purchase of Tegna to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworthel,” Washington Analysis, which advises institutional investors on D.C. policy, wrote in a note to clients last week that was reviewed by The Post.

If the Justice Department approves the deal, which seems increasingly likely, it will be taken to the Federal Communications Commission and Rosenworcel will decide whether to approve it, the sources said.

“Any letter from the new leadership of the Democratic House of Representatives will be aimed at putting additional pressure on Rosenworcel to ‘pocket veto’ the deal without taking any action,” the letter said.

Allen’s rep responded in a written statement to The Post that “Mr. Allen did not speak to the Democratic Party leadership about Tegna at the party.

“These claims, implications and predictions are blatantly false,” the spokesman added. “Mr. Allen just opened his house to introduce the new leadership of the Democratic Party to his Democratic Party supporters.”

In October, Pelosi took the unusual step of sending a letter to FCC Chair Rosenworsel expressing “serious concerns” about the Tegna deal. The letter raised eyebrows as Pelosi is not involved in many mergers. Tegna does not own any stations in its California county, and the merger is not seen as of great national importance, the sources say.

In the letter, Pelosi, along with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr., said she was concerned the deal would increase cable TV bills, hurt local news coverage, and result in job losses.

In a written response, FCC Standard General denied plans to cut local coverage and cut jobs at the stations, calling them speculation and stating that it “undertook in the minutes of the FCC that it did not plan any such action.”

More recently, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote to the FCC Rosenworcel on January 11 that the Standard General merger would result in anti-competitive practices.

Former comedian Allen, whose Los Angeles-based Allen Media owns the Weather Channel, has become the “Forrest Gump” of the proposed merger, appearing at every stage of the deal’s cycle.

“After failing early on to secure the necessary funds to buy assets on its own, it is widely believed that he took every opportunity to take advantage of Standard General’s superior offering,” Washington Analysis said in a report.

Last year, Allen raised $271,300 in Pelosi campaign contributions and donated an additional $275,000 to the Congressional Democratic Campaign Committee, which supports Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives, The Post previously reported.

Allen told The Post that his “donations to numerous Democratic politicians and PACs, which only started last year, have nothing to do with Tegna and everything to do with protecting our democracy.”

Standard General buys Tegna and receives funding from Apollo Global Management. The Justice Department’s main question is whether Apollo will have any influence over Tegna’s management, the sources said. Apollo owns Cox Media Group and its 33 television stations, sources say, and merging it with Tegna would violate broadcast property ownership rules.

Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter withdrew from this merger review because he was a partner at Paul Weiss’ law firm, which represented Apollo from 2016 to 2020, sources said.

Cox is transferring its Boston station to WFXT, a Fox subsidiary, to a holding company that buys Tegna. Tegna planned to use cable distributors with a higher WFXT rate compared to Tegna and apply this higher “relay” rate to all of its stations.

Station owners usually take the station that charges the most and use that maximum rate for all their stations. But now Standard General has agreed not to use the WFXT rate as a condition of approving the deal, the sources said.