Starboard Urges Media General To Start Merger Negotiations With Nexstar

New York hedge fund Starboard Value L.P. said on Tuesday it sent a letter to Media General Inc.'s chief executive to express its frustration that the TV station operator's "significant delay" in commencing merger negotiations with Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc. . Media General had announced a deal on Sept. 8 to buy fellow TV operator Meredith Corp. for about $2.4 billion. Nexstar followed by making an unsolicited bid to buy Media General on Sept. 28. Starboard sent a letter to Media General's board on Sept. 29 saying it believed the Nexstar deal was a superior deal for Media General shareholders, while the deal to buy Meredith was "value destructive." On Oct. 14, Media General said it reached agreement with Meredith that allows for the exchange of non-public information with Nexstar. "It has been close to a month since Meredith granted the waiver allowing Media General and Nexstar to engage in mutual due diligence, and we cannot understand why it should take so long for Media General to declare that Nexstar's acquisition proposal is reasonably likely to lead to a superior proposal," Starboard's letter on Tuesday said.