Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr told Newsmax on Tuesday that the inquiry he opened against Comcast NBC is about restoring trust in American national news media, adding that the abdication of previous administrations to enforce regulations has helped erode that trust.
Carr joined "Finnerty" to discuss the letter he sent to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts on Tuesday and the inquiry that it accompanied.
In the letter, Carr noted that he directed the FCC's Media Bureau to examine NBC's affiliate agreements and determine whether Comcast's practices undermine the independence and public service obligations of local stations.
"If you step back, trust in the national legacy news media is at an all-time low. The American people simply don't trust them to give them the news straight and unbiased," Carr told host Rob Finnerty, noting the "two distinct entities" at play.
"On the one hand, you've got these national programmers like Comcast and NBC that are feeding this content down. On the other hand, you have local broadcast TV stations that are supposed to be licensed by the FCC to serve the public interest," he said.
"And over the years, the national programmers have been exercising more and more control over those local TV stations.
"But the FCC has rules on the books that are supposed to regulate the relationship between national programmers like NBC and Comcast and local TV stations. And I'm concerned that over the years, the FCC has walked away from enforcing those regulations," he added.
Carr's decision follows complaints from local broadcast station groups that have alleged that major networks — including NBC and other top broadcasters — are using coercive tactics in negotiations for renewal of their affiliation agreements.
"So we started an inquiry, including a letter, as you indicated, to Comcast today to get at the contracts between Comcast NBC and the local TV stations to make sure that Comcast is not exerting pressure that prevents those local TV stations from actually serving the interests of their community, because those local stations want to do that," Carr said. "And we've got to make sure that the law is being followed here."
Carr was asked what the FCC can do if it's found that Comcast NBC has been violating federal regulations.
"There's lot of options that the FCC would have at our disposal depending on how this investigation goes. And look, it's possible that Comcast isn't unique. It could be that ABC, Disney, and others are engaged in similar conduct. There's a lot of remedies that we could impose," Carr said.
He added: "I think what's really happening right now is President [Donald] Trump has run directly at the legacy national news media. And most politicians, they just accepted for years that ABC Disney, Comcast NBC, they get to set the rules of the political debate. And Trump has said no. And we're seeing lots of consequences that have flowed from that."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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