{"id":502868,"date":"2026-01-09T03:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T03:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/502868\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T03:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T03:49:10","slug":"fcc-chairman-calls-some-local-tv-stations-mouthpieces-for-national-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/502868\/","title":{"rendered":"FCC Chairman Calls Some Local TV Stations “Mouthpieces” For National Networks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSpeaking at CES<\/a> in Las Vegas on Thursday, FCC<\/a> chairman Brendan Carr<\/a> reiterated his view that the \u201cbalance of power\u201d has shifted away from local TV<\/a> affiliates and toward national broadcast networks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the broadcast space, you have the national programmers \u2013 Disney, Paramount, Fox, Comcast,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd on the other hand, you\u2019ve got the actual licensed, individual local TV stations that distribute that content. And I think over the years, the balance of power has shifted too far into the hands of the national programmers, and they\u2019re effectively just using local TV stations as outlets for their own programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe FCC, Carr continued, is \u201clooking at lots of ways to really empower those local broadcast TV stations to actually identify the requirements and needs of their local communities and serve those needs of the local communities. It\u2019s not merely to become a pass-through for content produced by those national programmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe local-national dynamic was central to Carr\u2019s decision last September to add to the growing backlash against Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the host\u2019s off-handed monologue quip about right-wing reactions to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. As Donald Trump\u2019s sharp-elbowed appointee to lead the regulatory body, Carr has frequently amplified the concerns of the White House and Trump supporters. After he went on a right-wing podcast to blast Kimmel<\/a>, major station groups Nexstar and Sinclair said they would pull the late-night show, and ABC then responded by suspending it for several days<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe issue has resurfaced over the past 24 hours in relation to the fatal shooting of a motorist in Minneapolis by ICE officers. In a brief interview with Deadline after the panel, Carr was asked about Vice President J.D. Vance\u2019s attacks on media coverage<\/a> of the shooting. While cable network CNN seemed to bear the brunt of the assault from Vance, Carr was asked if local station coverage could prompt him to file a \u201cnews distortion\u201d complaint, as he has with 60 Minutes and other instances.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s important for broadcasters to operate in the public interest,\u201d Carr said, noting that as of the time of the interview he had not heard Vance\u2019s remarks. \u201cThere are broadcasters that are not doing that, they\u2019re engaging in news distortion, broadcast hoax, where they simply are becoming 100% a mouthpiece for a national programmer rather than just looking out for their interest. They\u2019re just, you know, airing Comcast and Disney programming, they\u2019re not doing any effort to identify the needs of local community. That\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump has frequently insisted that networks or stations airing what he deems to be inaccurate coverage should \u201close their license.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOnstage, Carr appeared to be articulating a similar sentiment. Broadcast license holders control \u201cvery, very unique distribution in media,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd because the government\u2019s picking a winner or loser, you get a license, you get this microphone, you get to speak. You don\u2019t necessarily get to conduct yourself the same way you would if you\u2019re running a podcast or a soapbox or a review.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo critics of the efforts to gather what he called \u201cpublic interest data\u201d at the FCC, Carr responded, \u201cIf you\u2019re a broadcaster and you don\u2019t like the fact you\u2019re not meeting this obligation, you can turn your license in. \u2026 There are lots of ways to distribute your content. You can become a cable channel, you become a podcast or you become a YouTube channel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe panel was moderated by Gary Shapiro, head of the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes CES. Shapiro praised Carr multiple times during the session, including for giving a \u201cgreat answer\u201d about the public interest obligation. \u201cI appreciate what you do for our country.\u201d He also lavished praise on Trump.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the final moments of the session, Shapiro told his guest, \u201cI do want to say that I did not expect \u2013 who could think you were so brilliant?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCarr smiled and replied, \u201cIt\u2019s so different in real life than on Twitter, apparently.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking at CES in Las Vegas on Thursday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr reiterated his view that the \u201cbalance…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":502869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[51396,201258,207578,171,36397,36496,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-502868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-brendan-carr","9":"tag-broadcast-networks","10":"tag-ces","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-fcc","13":"tag-local-tv","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115863104253999853","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}