MDP - Standard General presses Tegna proxy fight criticizing company presentation

Activist Standard General is keeping up the heat in its proxy fight against Tegna (TGNA +2.5%) with a new open letter to shareholders. That's in response to a rebuttal presentation filed by Tegna last week. That presentation is "deeply flawed" largely due to the fact that it's aiming at the wrong peer group, Standard General says. "Tegna is a pure-play television broadcaster. Tegna's presentation benchmarks itself to media companies Meredith (MDP +0.9%) and Scripps (SSP +2%), which have significant non-television assets," the investor says, noting Meredith gets most of its revenue from magazines and newspapers and only 27% from comparable broadcasting, while Scripps has a "significant" national media business. Tegna should be comparing itself to fellow pure-play broadcasters Nexstar (NXST +1.8%) and Gray (GTN +0.7%), it says. And "when comparing Tegna to the right peer group, its underperformance is apparent." It's pressing its fight to replace three long-serving directors, including

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Standard General presses Tegna proxy fight, criticizing company presentation