Wow! This Could get Real Costly

FTVLive told you that DOJ is looking at some TV station groups and investigated whether there was collusion when it comes to selling ads on the stations. 

The Baltimore Sun writes that now a Alabama law firm that advertised on television is accusing the six biggest owners of local television stations of scheming to artificially inflate the price of ads, according to an anti-trust class action lawsuit .

The firm, Mobile-based Clay, Massey & Associates, filed suit Monday in federal court in Illinois against Sinclair, Tribune Media Co., Gray Television Inc., Hearst Corp., Nexstar Media Group, Inc. and Tegna Inc. , which collectively own, operate or offer service to more than 443 local stations as of 2016, the lawsuit says.

In filing the lawsuit Wednesday, the law firm identified the six TV station owners as subjects of the Justice Department investigation. Clay Massey bought TV ad time form some of the broadcasters named as defendants.

“In today’s media landscape, spending on television ads is falling fast,” said Hollis Salzman, co-chair of the antitrust and trade regulation group for New York-based Robins Kaplan, attorneys for the plaintiff, in a statement. “Our client’s complaint alleges that the defendants tried to defy the gravity of that decline by colluding to raise their prices.”

“Defendants and their co-conspirators shared proprietary information and conspired to fix price and reduce competition in the market,” the lawsuit says.

We'll see how this plays out on court, but if others join this suit and win. along with a DOJ ruling against them, it could cost these stations millions upon millions of dollars. 

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