“Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar – Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level,” he wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday.
“Those that are opposed don’t fully understand how good the concept of this Deal is for them, but they will in the future,” he said.
The endorsement is an about-face from the US president’s previous skepticism toward the deal, which would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke a rule barring local TV station owners from serving more than 39% of the country.
When the deal was announced in August, Nexstar said the combined entity would reach 80% of US households.
Trump, in a social media post in November, said the deal “would also allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy”.
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, quickly backed the deal after Trump’s Saturday post.
“The national networks like Comcast & Disney have amassed too much power,” Carr posted on X.
“Let’s get it done and bring real competition to them,” he said.
Public-interest, labour groups and cable companies such as Newsmax Inc oppose relaxing the limits, which could set a precedent for future industry deals.
The FCC has floated the idea of easing the cap only for non “Big Four” network-owned stations, but that has been met with lukewarm support.
Newsmax issued a statement Saturday saying that Trump was “right” when he called for smaller networks in November and that a Nexstar deal would “harm conservative voices”.
“We hope the president will reconsider his position,” it added.
The Nexstar-Tegna will be discussed at a Senate hearing on Feb 10 about easing the TV ownership cap, where the witnesses will include Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy.
A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis said the missing piece for the deal to go through was Trump’s endorsement, after his November post.
Now that he has voiced his support and the FCC chairman is also backing the deal, Republican senators may be more likely to vote for the cap removal.