Key Points
- FCC Chairman Carr says broadcast licenses could be revoked if TV stations fail to uphold their public interest obligations.
- The term “public interest” has never been defined by the FCC or federal lawmakers.
- Carr has been accused of abusing his authority to fulfill the political agenda of President Donald Trump.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr has reiterated his position that local television stations should be punished if they fail to uphold the “public interest” obligation of their broadcast licenses.
During a podcast interview on Wednesday, Carr said broadcast TV stations are treated differently from other media platforms like streaming video services because broadcasters obtain federally-issued licenses to transmit their local and national programming on frequencies owned by the public.
As a condition of that license, broadcasters are expected to serve the “public interest” of the communities their signals reach. If they don’t adhere to the public interest standard, Carr said their licenses could be in jeopardy.
“I’ve said from the get-go: Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows,” Carr said during his appearance on the Media Research Council’s NewsBusters program. “If you think there’s nothing you can do to lose a license, then it’s not a license. That’s called a property right, and that’s something very fundamentally different.”
The FCC is granted authority through various acts of Congress to enforce the public interest standard. Neither the agency nor lawmakers have ever defined what it means to serve in the “public interest,” but broadcasters have generally assumed it to mean offering a mixture of programming and community-oriented events that caters to the interests of their local TV viewers.
The lack of definition has opened the door for unscrupulous actors in positions of authority to weaponize the FCC’s ability to license and punish broadcasters based on their political agendas, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said during a public event last month.
“I have called for the commission to initiate a rulemaking to define what it means by the public interest,” Gomez said on Thursday. “Otherwise, we’re just regulating against what we don’t like, and that is a direct violation of the First Amendment.”
Critics have accused Carr of abusing his authority to fulfill the desires of President Donald Trump, who nominated Carr to serve as chairman of the agency in January. Since then, Carr has sent letters inquiring about the Walt Disney Company and Comcast’s diversity, equity and inclusiveness (DEI) programs, which Trump has criticized in the past. He has also threatened to block business-related deals if regulated companies have employment-related diversity programs. Some broadcasters have reduced or eliminated their DEI programs since Carr became chairman.
Last month, Carr was thrust into the national spotlight after criticizing a politically-tinged monologue by ABC’s late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. During a similar podcast interview, Carr took exception with jokes during the monologue, and encouraged local TV broadcasters to pre-empt the show until Disney addressed the situation.
“Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Within hours of his comments, two large broadcasters — Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair, Inc. — announced plans to pull Kimmel’s show from dozens of local ABC affiliates. Both companies have pending business-related transactions that require FCC approval. The companies said their decisions to pull the show were made independently and not influenced by those deals.
ABC ultimately placed Kimmel’s show on a week-long hiatus. His first show drew more than 6 million viewers to the network, marking his highest-rated episode in a decade. The episode did not air on Nexstar and Sinclair’s ABC affiliates, which replaced the show with local news programming for a few more days.
In the days following the suspension, Carr downplayed his influence in motivating Nexstar and Sinclair to pull the program. Instead, he claimed both broadcasters were influenced by their obligations to serve their local communities.
But his assertion is easily contradicted by the fact that neither Nexstar nor Sinclair allowed their local TV stations to decide, for themselves, whether Kimmel’s program should air. Instead, the decision was made from the top down, with all Sinclair and Nexstar stations forced to pull the program, even if their local communities wanted to see it.
More Stories
- FCC Commissioner Gomez: Time for firm “public interest” definition
- Watchdog files bar complaint against FCC Chairman Carr over Kimmel controversy
- Free speech groups urge FCC Chairman Carr to resign
- FCC Chairman Carr to testify on Jimmy Kimmel suspension
- Broadcasters who criticized Jimmy Kimmel have deals pending before FCC
- Lawmakers demand answers from Nexstar, Sinclair over Jimmy Kimmel suspension
