I’ve explored how Trump FCC Boss Brendan Carr has been working tirelessly to illegally destroy what’s left of already shaky U.S. media consolidation limits. He’s particularly interested in helping Trump-friendly local broadcasters like Sinclair, Tegna, and Nexstar merge and dominate what’s left of broadcast TV “news,” as a very obvious reward for their loyalty to the president.
Consumer groups, media reformers, and activists have obviously been disgusted by the efforts. But the efforts have also repeatedly pissed off other Trump-friendly companies. Right wing propaganda “news” outlet Newsmax, for example, recently complained to Carr because they feel the elimination of media consolidation rules will make their local broadcast competitors in the right wing propaganda space too powerful.
Carr’s moves have also ironically pissed of bigger cable companies, which are now saying Carr’s attempt to greenlight a monopoly over local TV broadcast news will result in the bigger, combined broadcasters extracting significantly more money from them. As such, a lobbying org representing cable giants like Comcast and Charter say they’ll soon be filing suit against the agency over the changes:
“The TV ownership rule prohibits any single broadcast station owner from reaching more than 39 percent of all TV households in the US. Congress directed the FCC to set the cap at 39 percent in 2004. On Friday, cable lobby groups submitted a petition asking the FCC to keep the TV ownership cap in place until litigation over the FCC’s authority to repeal the rule is over.”
There’s no shortage of irony that this is what passes as media policy in the U.S.
Cable giants like Comcast and Charter, which have actively (and successfully) lobbied for reduced scrutiny of their own monopolization and consolidation across broadband and TV, are now complaining that other illegal efforts at consolidation will be bad for them personally. They like it when Carr obliterates oversight of their own monopolization, but don’t much like it when the shoe is on the other foot.
This is all the embarrassing gesticulations of obvious regulatory capture and corruption.
Trump’s first FCC boss, Ajit Pai, was basically just a revolving door regulator whose interests fully lined up with industry. Brendan Carr is most certainly that — but he’s also a radical authoritarian zealot keen on censoring voices critical of his autocratic boss, and helping right wing propagandists dominate U.S. media — much to the chagrin of some other, equally terrible companies.
The cable lobby won’t be alone in suing Carr and the FCC over its attack on media consolidation limits. Media reform group Free Press is also planning to sue the agency over its effort:
“Changing this limit requires congressional action, but Carr doesn’t care,” Free Press General Counsel Matt Wood said at the time. “He’ll do whatever it takes to clear the way for Trump-aligned billionaires to swallow up stations wherever and whenever they please. The result would be just one or two dominant broadcasters in every market, deep job cuts for journalists, and an influx of bargain-basement content disguised as local news.”
Several of these bigger cable giants (like Comcast NBC Universal) have been lobbying the FCC to also eliminate rules preventing the big four major networks from merging as well. The plus side is that Comcast and Charter taking a stand against Carr policies is another indicator that big companies are starting to gain in confidence as Trump’s health and political power wanes.
In no time at all we’ll be back to ordinary corruption and regulatory capture, slightly less tainted by the unpleasant, lingering odor of autocratic extremism.