As television station owners gathered in Las Vegas this week for the annual National Assn. of Broadcasters convention, they sent an urgent message to Washington that could be summed up in one word — “Help.”

Streaming video has siphoned away the traditional viewing audience. Advertisers have shifted their budgets to digital and away from broadcasters. On the horizon, there is fear that streaming will get more of broadcast TV’s last surefire attraction, the NFL, which can exit its media rights deal after the 2029 season.

All of this raises the question for the broadcast TV business that has offered news, entertainment and sports to their communities for generations: What will the business look like five years from now, and what can be done to preserve it?

Station owners such as Nexstar Media Group, E.W. Scripps and Fox Television Stations say part of the answer has to be consolidation, which would allow them to better withstand the competition from huge tech firms. But longstanding regulations stand in the way.

Now, the companies are calling on the Federal Communications Commission, chaired by President Trump appointee Brendan Carr, to lift ownership caps that currently limit them to owning two TV outlets in a single market. The total number of stations owned by one company can cover no more than 39% of the U.S., which was last revised upward in the pre-steaming era of 2004.

“We’re not looking for a handout here from Washington,” NAB President and Chief Executive Curtis LeGeyt said in a recent interview. “We are just looking for the ability to compete on a level playing field.”

The NAB filed a petition with the FCC to change the rules last week, saying “the time to end this harmful restriction is now.”

Tech companies such as Google and Facebook have no such constraints operating locally or nationally. YouTube now accounts for 11% of all TV viewing. Free ad-supported streaming services such as Tubi are also cutting into traditional TV.

Overall, streaming video is pulling in 43.5% of all TV viewing, more than doubling the share for broadcasters, according to Nielsen. In 2023, digital video ad revenue rose 17% to $57 billion dollars compared with $18 billion for local TV stations, which have seen their take decline an inflation adjusted 36% since 2000, according to BIA Advisory Services.

While Carr has taken swipes against national media entities disliked by Trump for alleged liberal bias — including major broadcasters CBS, ABC and NBC — he is generally seen as an ally to local stations. During a recent panel appearance, he said he wants to “re-empower” local broadcasters and has talked about reigning in tech companies.

Nexstar, the largest station owner in the U.S., is having its TV stations run news stories that are aimed at rallying support for changing ownership rules. Viewers are directed to a web site that provides pre-written social media posts that call for eliminating “the regulations that are threatening the growth of my local TV station.”

A representative for Nexstar, which owns Los Angeles outlet KTLA, said the topic is “worthy of mention by the very newscasts and outlets that are under threat from the outdated regulations at issue.”

TV station owners say the need for relief comes at a time when communities are depending on them more than ever for local news coverage as newspapers disappear.

A new survey from the consulting firm Magid said 40% of consumers cite TV stations as their preferred source for local news. Other studies have found local TV news to be the most trusted source.

The value of local TV news coverage was on full display in January when the major Los Angeles stations were on the air around the clock to chronicle the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires.

But executives say the shift of viewers and ad dollars is making such coverage financially unsustainable. Stations have needed to invest in more hours of newscasts and built full-time streaming operations to compete with internet news providers.

“There is not enough capital to deploy over the long-term to support five, six, seven or eight TV stations all executing local journalism in the marketplace,” said Adam Symson, CEO of E.W. Scripps Co., a Cincinnati-based TV station group owner. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group has already thrown in the towel in several markets, replacing its local coverage with its centralized news broadcast, called the National Desk.

David Bradley, whose family-owned News-Press & Gazette Co. runs TV stations in cities including Palm Springs, Santa Barbara and Monterey, said his news operations would be more robust if the company could own more stations in a market.

“We’re looking to beef up the capabilities of the markets we’re already in,” said Bradley.

Contraction is a dirty word in the journalism industry, which generally believes having more outlets is better for the public interest. Consolidating TV newsrooms would shrink the number of news jobs.

But the Magid study said consumers believe there is too much repetition in what they watch and are open to the idea of consolidation.

“The news stations deliver is seen as a commodity today,” Magid Chief Operating Officer Jaime Spencer said in a recent interview.

Less than 20% of those surveyed by Magid had a negative reaction to ownership consolidation. “The reality is, if the product is good, they really don’t care who owns it,” Spencer said.

Station groups are looking to consolidation as a way to increase their bargaining power with the broadcast networks. The network-affiliate relationship has become fraught in recent years, as stations are being asked by the networks to pay more for programming.

At the same time, network programming is increasingly not exclusive to the affiliates. Owners are grousing over how CBS, ABC and NBC air shows after they were first run on their parent company-owned streaming platforms.

The strained situation has already attracted the attention of Carr. In a December letter to Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger, Carr said he was concerned that ABC was “attempting to extract onerous financial and operational concessions from local broadcast TV stations under the threat of terminating long-held affiliations.”

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) passes during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 57 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 12, 2023, in Glendale, Ariz.

(Matt Slocum / Associated Press)

The tensions could escalate if the NFL opts out of its media rights deal in 2029.

The league is expected to open the deal up in its seventh year, potentially allowing streaming suitors to further drive up the price or peel off some of the games in the broadcast package.

For CBS, the renegotiation could come even sooner. The NFL has a right to open up its contract with a partner if there is a transfer in ownership. CBS parent Paramount Global is looking to close a merger deal with Skydance Media.

Netflix made its entry into the NFL by snagging the rights for two Christmas games through the upcoming season, and its executives have shown an appetite for more. Amazon Prime Video, which has “Thursday Night Football,” may want to upgrade its package as well.

The possibility of the tech companies bidding for a bigger slice of the NFL pie has broadcasters on edge as the current package already has each network paying around $2.3 billion a year for the NFL when production costs are included.

“The NFL has a habit, whenever they have some leverage, of extracting something from their partners,” said one veteran TV sports executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Amid the challenges, broadcast TV still has an advantage in being able to reach every home in the U.S.

One key reason the NBA chose to add Comcast in its new 11-year, $76-billion media rights deal was the ability to put more games on free over-the-air television through NBC.

Local TV stations have also benefited from the collapse of regional sports cable networks. Teams in the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have struck deals with local broadcasters to air their games — in many cases along with a subscription streaming app — to maintain their public profile within their markets.

In addition to deregulation, station owners are looking for a technological lifeline.

TV station groups hope the FCC will set a firm date for the transition to NextGen TV, the name for the new broadcast signal standard.

The technology provides better picture and sound quality. TV stations will also be able to offer targeted advertising and interactive programming through an over-the-air antenna. Stations will also be able to use their signals to distribute data.

“I think it’s going to be a significant revenue stream for broadcasting,” Symson said.