{"id":953,"date":"2026-07-16T20:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=953"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:45:19","slug":"fcc-chairman-wants-to-repeal-a-key-rule-that-would-fundamentally-change-broadcast-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=953","title":{"rendered":"FCC Chairman Wants to Repeal a Key Rule That Would Fundamentally Change Broadcast News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr wants to repeal a rule that has prevented a select handful of broadcasters from taking full control of the media landscape.<\/p>\n

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Back in 2004, Congress instructed the FCC to enact a national ownership cap that would bar any one broadcast station owner from reaching more than 39% of American households. For more than 20 years, the rule has kept mega mergers in the TV broadcasting industry from gobbling up the entire media ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Now, Carr is proposing to repeal that national ownership cap rule, which, if successful, would mean broadcast TV giants will pretty much have a green light for mergers, even if it meant that one company would gain access to most of the media landscape.<\/p>\n

Carr expressed his intentions in an op-ed published by the far-right organization Breitbart. In the op-ed, he claimed that the cap was once helpful in protecting local news stations, but now it was becoming an obstacle as they compete with national news, large streamers, and social media giants.<\/p>\n

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Instead of a blanket rule, Carr wants to create a new \u201ccase-by-case approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPreviously, the cap operated as a blanket prohibition on any and all deals that would combine stations in excess of the 39 percent limit\u2014regardless of whether it was a good deal or a bad one for the country,\u201d Carr wrote in the op-ed. \u201cOur new proposal would allow the FCC to approve deals that exceed the 39 percent cap, but only if doing so would promote the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Major broadcasters have been lobbying for a change to the rule for quite some time now. One such mega TV broadcasting company that lobbied for the rule change is Nexstar. Earlier this year, the FCC granted Nexstar a waiver for the 39% national ownership cap rule and approved its acquisition of rival Tegna. The merger is still currently facing court challenges over antitrust claims, but if it is finalized, then Nexstar is estimated to expand its reach to at least 60% of American households.<\/p>\n

Sinclair, another Trump-allied major broadcaster that was behind a particularly infamous PR debacle during Trump\u2019s first administration, is also eyeing a merger and commended the proposed rule change as \u201ccommon sense.\u201d Both companies also famously refused to air Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s show on their channels late last year after the late-night host\u2019s comments about Charlie Kirk drew ire from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

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