President Donald Trump lashed out at NBC and ABC over the weekend, calling the broadcasters “two of the worst and most biased networks in history” and suggesting their local television stations should lose their licenses.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump complained that the two networks “give me 97 percent bad stories,” despite his “very high popularity” and his perceived achievements during the first eight months of his second term in office.
“They are simply an arm of the Democrat Party and should, according to many, have their licenses revoked by the FCC,” Trump wrote. “I would be totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our democracy.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licenses local radio and television stations that use public broadcast frequencies to reach viewers and listeners. The agency does not license or regulate broadcast networks, but the parent companies of the five biggest TV networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and the CW Network — all own local TV stations.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, currently operates eight licensed TV stations, while Comcast’s NBC Universal owns around four dozen stations that broadcast shows from NBC and Telemundo. The count does not include repeater or translator stations that redistribute the signals of a full-power broadcast outlet; in nearly all cases, repeaters and translators must also be licensed by the FCC.
The threat from Trump comes months after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent letters to Disney and Comcast targeting their diversity, equity and inclusiveness (DEI) programs. In addition to its local TV stations, Comcast is further regulated as a public service utility due to its offering of broadband Internet, cable TV and land-based phone services.
The letter sent to Disney also raised questions about the broadcaster’s practice of imposing fees on independent TV station owners whose outlets are affiliated with ABC. Over the past few years, ABC affiliated stations have complained about higher fees charged to them while the network continues to push highly-sought reality shows, scripted programming and sports to its own streaming platforms. At least one ABC affiliate, Miami’s WPLG (Channel 10), recently converted into to a full-time independent station because of higher fees.
The new remarks also follow a series of legal battles between Trump and major news outlets. Last month, he reached a $16 million settlement with CBS News over a defamation case, shortly before regulators approved a merger between CBS parent Paramount Global and Skydance Media. Trump also agreed to a $15 million settlement with ABC in a separate dispute.
