An investor in Florida has taken a 5.7 percent stake in Ion Media Networks and plans to recommend that the board of the struggling media giant accept a deal from NBC Universal and hedge fund Citadel Investment Group.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, Steven Robert Zeigler said he supports the revised bid from NBC and Citadel, which is up against a competing offer from a group of preferred shareholders that have roughly $800 million invested in Ion.

“NBC is putting pressure on the company to take their deal and now you have some shareholder who is probably telling the board he’s going to sue them if they don’t take the deal,” said one preferred shareholder.

Zeigler owns roughly 3.7 million shares, which he has purchased over the last two years. Ion closed yesterday at $1.29, making Zeigler’s shares worth roughly $4.8 million.

Zeigler, who owns Zeiger Crane Rentals in Florida, did not return a call to his home in Palm Beach Gardens, the same town where Ion is headquartered.

A source at NBC denied the company had been in contact with Ziegler.