Carr backs Trump’s criticism of networks, says FCC will ‘hold people accountable’

Five days after Donald Trump called for ABC and NBC to lose their broadcast licenses for not carrying his primetime speech, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told reporters he agreed, and said the commission’s open proceedings against Disney-owned ABC would take the network’s programming decisions into account.

“The FCC is going to hold people accountable to their public interest obligations,” Carr said at a post-meeting press conference July 22.

Pressed on what that means, Carr did not draw a line between editorial decisions and regulatory consequences. He cited unspecified reports that one or more networks had consulted with “Democrat aides” about whether to air the July 16 speech, calling that “concerning.” He offered no evidence.

“It is not for the FCC to tell broadcasters how to make their editorial decisions and what content to place in their networks,” said Commissioner Anna Gomez during her own press conference afterward. “It’s censorship one way or another if we tell them they can’t broadcast something, and it’s forced speech if we tell them they have to do so.”

She added: “There is nothing here that violates any rule or statutory provision with regard to these networks.”

The speech and what followed

ABC, NBC and CNN did not carry the president’s July 16 primetime address on their linear networks, though all three aired it on their streaming platforms. CBS, Fox and the CW broadcast it. Trump said the networks that declined should lose their licenses. Five days later, at the commission’s July open meeting, Carr sided with the president.

“I think when you have the president of the United States standing inside the White House delivering an important speech, I think that’s something that broadcasters should be carrying,” he said. He noted that the commission has open license proceedings involving Disney-owned ABC stations and said the network’s programming decisions would factor in. “We do have some licenses that are before us and we’re going to be taking a look at all of these issues.”

Asked whether broadcasters should be “looking over their shoulders,” Carr said the public interest standard applies and that networks accustomed to operating like cable channels or newspapers should understand the FCC does not intend to look the other way.

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“To the extent that they felt like the FCC was going to look the other way and they could act just like a cable channel or a newspaper, I think we’ve been pretty clear that that’s not going to happen with this FCC,” he said.

Gomez called the threats “ridiculous” and predicted Disney would prevail if the commission takes adverse action.

“These threats are empty threats, because the broadcasters have the Constitution on their side,” she said. “They have the Constitution, the law, and the public on their side. And that’s why I’m so glad that Disney has made it very clear that it is going to defend its rights.”

She continued: “When they do, they will win. And that’ll be the rebuke that this commission needs to get it to respect its duty to the Constitution and to the statute.”

The broader picture

The speech carriage dispute is the latest in a series of FCC actions targeting Disney-owned ABC that have accumulated over the past 18 months, a DEI investigation opened in March 2025, a public confrontation over Jimmy Kimmel later that year, early license renewals ordered in April 2026 that Disney filed “under protest,” a proceeding to strip “The View” of its bona fide news exemption, and now scrutiny of the network’s editorial judgment on carrying a presidential address.

At the same press conference, Gomez connected the ABC disputes to next month’s scheduled vote on eliminating the 39% national broadcast ownership cap, framing both as part of the same dynamic.

“The real goal here is to reward the broadcasters willing to fall in line with this administration,” Gomez said. “We saw it last week when the president threatened to pull the licenses of stations that declined to air his political speech, while stations that dutifully complied were praised for it.”

She also flagged the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which carries foreign ownership approaching 50%, and called on the commission to review that transaction with a full vote rather than a staff-level decision.

Carr has maintained throughout that the FCC’s actions are grounded in existing law and not directed by the White House. He has framed the ABC license review as tied to the DEI investigation and said the “View” proceeding is a straightforward application of equal-time rules.

The commission’s next open meeting is scheduled for Aug. 6. The agenda includes the ownership cap vote.

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