Prior to the carriage dispute, DirecTV filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Nexstar, accusing the broadcaster of illegal collusion through its operational control of stations licensed to Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting. Nexstar operates those third-party stations under shared services agreements, which are permissible under federal regulations. It wasn't immediately clear if the apparently-forthcoming end of the programming dispute between Nexstar and DirecTV would also lead to a resolution of the antitrust matter in court. As of Friday evening, the legal matter was still pending.