FCC review of ABC’s licences includes speech broadcast decision
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FCC Chairman Brendan Carr confirmed on Wednesday that ABC's decision not to broadcast President Trump's 16 July speech on election security live would be examined as part of the agency's ongoing early review of licences for ABC's eight owned-and-operated stations. Trump had used the speech to criticise both ABC and NBC for declining to air it live, calling their choice "fraud" and demanding their broadcast licences be revoked — a threat he has made repeatedly against broadcasters in the past. The episode underscored concerns that the FCC, led by a Trump appointee, could use its licensing powers to pressure networks over editorial decisions unfavourable to the president, though Carr's remarks stopped short of announcing any concrete action beyond folding the matter into the existing review.
In the speech itself, Trump alleged US elections had been "rigged and stolen" and claimed China had illegally accessed millions of voter files to manipulate the 2018 and 2020 elections. Carr argued broadcasters carrying presidential remarks "inside the White House" serves the public interest and said all broadcasters would be held to that standard, while ABC declined to comment. The FCC's only Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, publicly disputed Carr's position, saying broadcasters have a First Amendment right to make their own editorial decisions and that compelling them to air a speech would itself amount to censorship — a stance that reflects a long-standing precedent giving networks discretion over live presidential broadcasts.
- FCC chief Carr says ABC's snub of Trump speech feeds into licence review
- Trump had demanded ABC and NBC lose licences over the decision
- FCC's Democratic commissioner Gomez calls compelled broadcast "censorship"
New here? Start with this
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the US government body that regulates television and radio broadcasters, including the power to grant, renew or revoke the licences that local stations need to operate. Its current chairman, Brendan Carr, was appointed by President Trump, and the agency is now examining the licences of ABC's eight stations that it owns and operates directly, rather than through independent affiliates.
This scrutiny began in April, when the FCC ordered ABC to reapply early for those licences while separately investigating diversity, equity and inclusion practices at Disney, ABC's parent company. That order followed Trump publicly calling for the sacking of ABC host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about Melania Trump. Disney has since resubmitted its licence applications but says it is doing so "under protest".
Trump has long argued that broadcasters unfavourable to him should lose their licences, a threat he has repeated on several occasions against various networks. The issue matters because it raises questions about how much influence a president and his appointees can exert over media companies through regulatory bodies that are meant to operate independently of political pressure.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of the FCC's approach argue that broadcasters operate on public airwaves under a licence that carries genuine public-interest obligations, and that a presidential address on a matter as significant as election security has traditionally been the kind of broadcast networks make available to viewers. On this view, examining how ABC handled that decision is a legitimate part of the agency's normal licence-renewal scrutiny rather than an attack on the network, and the FCC is simply doing its job of holding licensees to standards that justify their privileged use of the spectrum. They would add that raising the issue publicly is consistent with transparency about what the review will consider.
The case against
Critics counter that a broadcaster's editorial judgement about which live events to air is precisely the kind of decision the First Amendment and long-standing FCC practice are meant to keep free from political interference. They see this move as part of a troubling pattern, coming alongside the earlier DEI-related licence probe and the president's repeated public calls to revoke ABC's and NBC's licences over coverage he dislikes, and worry that tying licence renewal to a specific editorial choice creates a chilling effect that pressures broadcasters to cover the administration favourably to protect their business. For them, an independent regulator scrutinising a newsroom's programming decisions at a president's urging risks becoming a tool of retaliation rather than neutral oversight, regardless of how the underlying legal proceeding is framed.
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Originally published by Variety as “FCC Chair Says ABC’s Decision to Not Broadcast Trump Speech Live Will Be Part of Agency’s Review of Station Licenses”.