Television broadcasting company Tegna announced Tuesday the selection of Patrick Paolini, a longtime Fox television executive, as its new chief executive officer while the company navigates legal obstacles preventing a massive merger deal.
The new CEO brings over 30 years of local television broadcasting leadership to his role at Tegna, most recently working at Fox Television Stations where he has overseen advertising sales operations as executive vice president starting in 2023.
Key details about the leadership change:
• Paolini assumes the CEO position beginning June 1, where he will oversee day-to-day business operations and local news programming while answering to Tegna’s board of directors.
• His previous role included overseeing Fox’s Washington, D.C. television properties — WTTG FOX 5 and WDCA FOX 5 Plus.
• “He brings deep expertise in the broadcast television industry, major-market station management, and high-quality local news, along with a proven track record of driving revenue growth across linear and digital platforms,” Tegna’s board of directors said.
• The new executive replaces Mike Steib, whose background includes leadership roles at online art marketplace Artsy and digital media firm XO Group.
• The previous week, Nexstar petitioned a federal appeals court to expedite review of a lower court’s decision halting the merger, claiming the postponement has resulted in tens of millions in unrecoverable financial losses.
• Tegna controls 64 local television stations across 51 markets nationwide, and combining with Nexstar would establish the nation’s largest broadcast station network, serving 80% of American homes.
