Report: Antitrust issues settled, FCC likelier to OK Nexstar-Media General merger

• The FCC is more likely to approve the $4.6B merger of Nexstar Broadcasting (NXST -1.5%) and Media General (MEG -1%) with Justice Dept. antitrust concerns in the rear-view mirror, a source tells CTFN.
• Georgetown professor Andrew Jay Schwartzman says new FCC rules permitting transferability of joint sales agreements clears the way: "I don’t know but I’m pretty sure that this eliminates most of the obstacles that the FCC is going to have towards approving the Nexstar transaction."
• The bigger catch is the FCC's dark period for approving deals while the broadcast incentive spectrum auction is under way. Stage 2 of that auction resumes today, but the sale is increasingly likely to last into 2017.