Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr told Newsmax on Wednesday that a complaint filed by a faith-based network that is not being carried by YouTube TV suggests that the online streaming service provider's owner, Google, has a hidden agenda to censor content.
Carr on March 7 wrote a letter to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube TV, regarding a complaint filed by Great American Media that YouTube TV deliberately marginalizes faith-based and family friendly programming by not carrying its Great American Family network.
Carr told "Finnerty" he has yet to hear back from Pichai.
"This is really concerning," Carr said. "If you step back, the American people have lived through this massive surge in censorship over the last couple of years where if you didn't have the right scientific view, religious view, political belief, you were censored by Big Tech companies.
"Now, the good news is, a lot of companies have come along since then. X obviously always stood in the breach for free speech ever since Elon Musk took it over. Meta [CEO] Mark Zuckerberg has come around recently.
"But Google seems to be the one that is still behind. And we got a complaint at the FCC from this group, Great American Media, that has a faith-based channel, and they're arguing that Google is discriminating against them by not carrying it on YouTube TV. It's a credible complaint, and it's very concerning."
Great American Family, founded in 2021, is available through several cable companies and streaming services, including Cox, Dish Network, ATT U-Verse, Sling, Spectrum, XFinity, Hulu, and DirecTV, but has been unavailable to users on YouTube TV, which surpassed 8 million subscribers last year.
Great American Family reportedly was the fastest growing linear cable TV network in 2023 and became a Top 25 channel in November for households with two or more people.
"They're carried by lots of streaming services," Carr said. "But the suggestion is ... that Google has some sort of secret hidden policy against putting faith-based channels on YouTube TV. And if that turns out to be the case, that's really deeply concerning."
Carr said there are no federal rules to force the hand of online streaming platforms that might have discriminatory practices.
"It's been the Wild West when it comes to streaming services for awhile," Carr said. "But there's a proceeding where people are asking the FCC to start applying more rules, including rules that go to forms of discrimination to these online streaming services.
"We do have rules — the FCC — that apply to traditional cable companies like Comcast, and we've been asked to take a look at extending some of those regulations to online streaming, like YouTube TV.
"And depending on what we learn from this inquiry into YouTube TV, that's going to, you know, inform whether we move forward and take a look at additional action."
Newsmax reached out to Alphabet for comment.
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com