Overview

• Late Sunday, President Trump posted that he is “totally in favor” of the FCC revoking ABC and NBC broadcast licenses, calling their coverage a “threat to our Democracy.”
• Trump claimed the networks give him “97% BAD STORIES” and argued they should either lose licenses or pay “millions of dollars a year in license fees.”
• National networks do not hold FCC licenses; local affiliate stations do, and former FCC chairs have said content-based revocations are not permitted under the law.
• Current FCC Chair Brendan Carr has reopened probes into Comcast/NBC and Disney/ABC and has signaled a willingness to scrutinize broadcasters’ public-interest obligations, but no revocation action has been initiated.
• The posts follow Trump’s recent settlements with major outlets, including $16 million from CBS and $15 million from ABC, fueling concerns from media observers about government pressure chilling news coverage.