Overview

• Speaking on Air Force One, President Trump said broadcasters that give him only negative coverage should have their licenses revoked and praised ABC for pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s show.
• FCC Chair Brendan Carr warned affiliates they could face regulatory scrutiny over Kimmel’s remarks, saying stations could do it the easy way or the hard way and later signaled more actions may follow.
• ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! after major groups Nexstar and Sinclair said they would not air the program, with Sinclair calling for an apology and a donation to Charlie Kirk’s organization.
• House Democratic leaders urged Carr to resign and civil-liberties advocates condemned the pressure campaign, while the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner said the agency lacks authority to police viewpoint-based content.
• Analysts noted that broadcasters’ reliance on FCC approvals—such as Nexstar’s proposed Tegna deal and Disney/ESPN’s NFL Network transaction—heightened compliance pressures, even as FCC licensing applies to local stations rather than networks.