FCC’s Brendan Carr threatens to pull licenses from media companies if they’re out of line

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr said in an interview published on Monday that he is willing to pull broadcast licenses from any media company that does not align with the public’s interest.

Carr accused Comcast in April of “misleading the American public” with its coverage of the deportation of alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia and said the FCC would investigate whether Comcast’s programming decisions “best reflect the needs and interests of their communities.” He warned in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he is willing to revoke the license of any media company if necessary.

“Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows,” Carr told The WSJ.

The FCC has only revoked the broadcast license of a media company once in 1971 after a station in Jackson, Mississippi, defended segregation, according to The WSJ.

“Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows,” says FCC Chairman Brendan Carr https://t.co/tZm47zRmz6

— Isabella Simonetti (@thesimonetti) September 8, 2025

The FCC launched a probe against Comcast in February over its policies related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to abolish “radical and wasteful” DEI programs in the government.

Carr has justified his hands-on approach by citing a 1934 law which states that “because a given broadcast network is granted airwaves to use exclusively as its own, it needs to operate in ‘public interest, convenience and necessity,” according to The WSJ. He stated that the FCC is “fully aligned with the agenda” that President Donald Trump “is running and plans to restore trust between the public and the media.”

“President Trump ran directly at the legacy mainstream media, and he smashed a facade that they’re the gatekeepers of truth,” Carr said.

Trump called on NBC News and ABC News’ licenses to be revoked over its overt biases. He first called on NBC News to lose its license in 2017 after the outlet published a story claiming that Trump planned a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. He again floated the idea of NBC News losing its license in 2018 over its handling of a story about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct.

Following the presidential debate in September 2024, Trump said ABC News’ license should be revoked for refusing to correct former Vice President Kamala Harris’ several false claims about the 2017 Charlottesville riot, The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and Trump’s support for in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In July, CBS News agreed to a $36 settlement to end Trump’s lawsuit against the network over its alleged deceptive editing of an interview with Harris ahead of the 2024 election. In December 2024, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Trump after host George Stephanopoulos falsely stated that the current president had been found “liable of rape.”

Trump is currently suing the WSJ for reporting that he sent sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a birthday card with a drawing of a naked woman in 2003.

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