What this means for the journalists and news programs at 9News is yet to be seen, but industry watchers don't think it bodes well for Kyle Clark, Jeremy Jojola, Steve Staeger, Marshall Zelinger, and their collaborators. Corey Hutchins, author of the inside-baseball digital newsletter Inside the News in Colorado, took a dim view of potential outcomes, speculating in Saturday's missive that "9NEWS could become like a KWGN — a secondary channel [Nexstar already owns KWGN, the local CW affiliate]. A few anchors as the face, and then all KDVR content, reporters, and producers," or "Pink slips for 9NEWS, and KDVR staffers stay."
Either of those results would be a degrading end for the crew at 9NEWS, the longtime leader in the battle for eyeballs amongst local broadcast television news orgs. The station's much-lauded Next with Kyle Clark program could be hung out to dry — though we suspect Clark will land himself comfortably no matter what ensues, thanks to the national acclaim he's earned with his dry wit and incisive political opinions. (Clark's enemies, including MAGA Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and far-right podcaster Joe Oltmann, may be day-drinking in celebration.)
Last week, as rumors of the acquisition grew, Clark posted a lengthy message on social media to celebrate his eighteenth anniversary with 9News.
In the before-times (pre-Trump 2.0), this sort of media consolidation was frowned upon. But in July, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out significant portions of the Federal Communications Commission's top-four rule, which said companies could only own one of the top four stations in a media market.Grateful for 18 years of days well-spent at 9NEWS. Grateful to do it again tomorrow.
— Kyle Clark (@kylec.bsky.social) August 13, 2025 at 10:27 PM
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In Nexstar's announcement, the first comment from Chairman and CEO Perry A. Sook immediately credits Trump for the anti-competitive opportunity.
"The initiatives being pursued by the Trump administration offer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies that have unchecked reach and vast financial resources," Sook said in a statement.
The same Trump initiatives that Sook lauds also resulted in the merger of Paramount Global with Skydance, which the South Park creators called "a shitshow," and resulted in Stephen Colbert getting kicked off the air.
The announcement by Nexstar says the transaction is supposed to close by the second half of 2026, leaving plenty of time for 9NEWS employees to update their resumés and for other stations in the market, like Denver7 and CBS Colorado, to poach them early.
Or, perhaps, somehow, some way, all of the journalists at 9NEWS and KDVR keep their jobs and stay on-air — and the Rockies win the World Series.
