July 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has

asked a federal appeals court to reinstate a lawsuit by

satellite television provider DirecTV accusing Nexstar Media ( NXST ) and

two other television station owners of scheming to drive up

retransmission fees for distributing content to viewers.

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed Tuesday with the 2nd

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ argued that a lower

federal judge applied the wrong legal framework in a March order

dismissing DirecTV's lawsuit against Nexstar, Mission

Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting.

The department said it was not taking sides in the lawsuit

and did not offer a view on who should prevail. It argued that

the 2nd Circuit should return the case to the trial court to

reconsider its decision, mirroring arguments from DirecTV.

DirecTV had no immediate comment, and Nexstar, the country's

largest third-party owner or operator of television stations,

did not immediately respond to a request for one. Mission

declined to comment and White Knight could not be reached.

DirecTV and other subscription television program providers

pay retransmission fees to station owners such as Nexstar in

order to distribute their programming.

The lawsuit, filed last year, said the defendants violated

antitrust law by depriving DirecTV "of a fair competitive

process that has resulted in higher prices being demanded of it

and lost profits."

DirecTV said it would not pay inflated prices, and so did

not renew some license agreements and lost access to broadcast

stations, subscribers and revenue.

In his order dismissing the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge

Kevin Castel in Manhattan ruled DirecTV could not tie any losses

it suffered to the alleged antitrust conspiracy. He said DirecTV

had not paid inflated fees because it "made the unilateral

decision to abandon" negotiations.

The Justice Department's brief to the 2nd Circuit said

Castel's order was "unduly narrow" and that the harm of alleged

price-fixing schemes could be more than just paying inflated

fees. Other harms include diminished quality and output.

The government's brief said DirecTV's loss of contract

renewals, for instance, could be considered an antitrust injury.

DirecTV is seeking damages for lost revenue and a court

order barring the defendants from conspiring on future contract

negotiations.

The case is DirecTV LLC v. Nexstar Media Group Inc ( NXST ), 2nd U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-981.

For DirecTV: Olivier Antoine, Amanda Shafer Berman and

Jordan Ludwig of Crowell & Moring

For Nexstar: Lauren Willard Zehmer and David Haller of

Covington & Burling

Read more:

US judge dismisses DirecTV lawsuit against Nexstar, other

station owners