[15] Prior to the company's completion of the spin-off of Cars.com, it was reported by DealReporter that Nexstar Media Group may be considering a bid to acquire Tegna.

[20] On December 18, 2017, Tegna announced it would acquire KFMB-AM-FM-TV in San Diego from Midwest Television, Inc. for $325 million, pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

[28] On May 6, 2019, it was reported that Tegna was going to acquire the 85% of the Justice Network and Quest from Cooper Media that it did not own already for $77 Million to close by the end of the second quarter.

[29] On June 11, 2019, it was reported Tegna Inc. purchased the Dispatch Broadcast Group's television and radio assets, subject to regulatory approval, for $535 million.

[32] In December 2019, Tegna agreed to sell KFMB-AM-FM to Local Media San Diego for $5 million;[33] the sale was completed on March 17, 2020.

[37] A carriage dispute with Dish Network, beginning on October 6, 2021, resulted in the removal of at least 64 Tegna stations in 53 markets, covering about nearly 3 million customers.

[45] In 2020, activist shareholder Soo Kim, owner of Standard General, began to pursue control over Tegna, citing its "pattern of passivity" on the market.

In regards to other rumored offers from Byron Allen and religious broadcaster TBN (the latter in partnership with Jahm Najafi), the company stated that "the other two parties have not signed confidentiality agreements to enable due diligence and have not delivered any information on financing sources".

[47] Kim began to engage in a proxy fight, with Standard General proposing four nominations to Tegna's board of directors at its next shareholders' meeting in April.

Kim accepted the result of the vote, stating that the actions had helped to "[challenge] management's narrative about the Company's performance and seeking greater transparency about Tegna's numbers, acquisition metrics, and engagement with third parties".

[49][50][51] In 2021, Standard General once again put forward nominees to Tegna's board of directors, alleging that the company was underperforming and had issues with diversity, equity, and inclusion; the latter came after a Black nominee put forward by Standard General withdrew, citing a previous incident involving CEO Dave Lougee in 2014.

[54] On February 22, 2022, Tegna announced that it had agreed to be taken private by a group led by Standard General and Apollo Global Management for $24 per-share, valuing the company at $5.4 billion.

[57] On October 6, 2022, Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Frank Pallone and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued a letter to the FCC expressing concerns for the transaction, arguing that it "would violate the FCC's mandate by restricting access to local news coverage, cutting jobs at local television stations, and raising prices on consumers".

They specifically cited statements by Standard General regarding plans for a Washington, D.C. bureau to produce content for local newscasts, and arguing that Tegna's stations had "too many employees".

[58] Standard General responded to the letter, denying that they planned to cut jobs or hub content, and promoting that Tegna would become the largest female-run and minority-owned broadcaster in the United States.

They also responded to objections by NewsGuild-CWA describing Standard General as "backed by anonymous investors located in the Cayman Islands", stating that the entirety of its board is represented by U.S.

In 2015, Tegna Media test-ran a limited-run informative talk show hosted by Dallas-based bishop T. D. Jakes on its owned stations in Dallas, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Cleveland.

[65] Other shows Tegna Media has on first-run syndication across most of its stations are Sister Circle (also shown on cable network TV One),[66] and reality competition Sing Like A Star.

In January 2018, Tegna announced a partnership with Sony Pictures Television to handle syndication distribution and advertising sales for its original programs.