Host John Oliver on Sunday warned viewers of HBO’s Last Week Tonight that President Donald Trump poses a threat to press freedom and that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has been complicit in Trump’s efforts to silence some media outlets. The White House has attempted to “weaponize” the FCC, Oliver said.
A host of conservative groups urged the FCC to repeal national and local radio and TV ownership limits. “Without reform, valued local broadcast radio and television services could disappear entirely,” the groups told Chairman Brendan Carr in a Wednesday letter, which was circulated by NAB Friday. Signatories to the letter included Heritage Action for America, Americans for Tax Reform, the Digital First Project and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Center for American Rights, which has filed FCC complaints against the programming of NAB members Paramount, Disney and NBCUniversal, also signed. NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a release Friday that the trade group was “grateful for the wide-ranging support to modernize these outdated broadcast ownership rules and echo the call for the FCC to level the playing field.”
A pirate radio operator in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, has agreed to pay $11,000 to the FCC as part of a settlement with the agency, said an order and consent decree in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. In January 2024, the FCC approved a notice of apparent liability against Wilfrid Salomon, proposing a fine of $358,665. The agency said then that Salomon had been operating a pirate station for years and received multiple FCC warnings. After the NAL, Salomon gave the agency evidence of his inability to pay the proposed forfeiture amount, according to the consent decree. After determining that Salomon ceased broadcasting, the Enforcement Bureau said it agreed to the settlement. Under the consent decree, Salomon agreed not to commit future acts of pirate broadcasting or assist anyone else in doing so. If he violates the settlement, he will have to pay the remaining $347,665 proposed in the NAL, the consent decree said.
The FCC Media Bureau gave broadcasters a one-year extension on the audible crawl waiver in an order Monday. The audible crawl rule requires broadcasters to provide an audio version of on-screen graphically displayed emergency information, but the FCC has repeatedly waived it since 2015 (see 2412300029). The current waiver was set to expire May 27, but the new order extends it to May 27, 2026. NAB had requested an 18-month waiver extension and has also petitioned the FCC to make it easier for broadcasters to satisfy the audible crawl requirement. Last year, the FCC allowed the waiver to briefly lapse, which caused some TV broadcasters to cease showing weather radar maps in case it was seen as a rule violation (see 2411290007).
The New York office of the FCC Enforcement Bureau sent a warning to North Shore Financial in Tarrytown about pirate radio broadcasts emanating from its property in Springfield Gardens, said an agency notice issued Thursday. EB agents found unauthorized radio broadcasts coming from the property in January, the notice said. Unlike in recent similar notices, the precise address of the property was redacted. The FCC didn’t provide a reason for the redaction, but a footnote in the notice said the information is “confidential.” The notice warned that the landowners could face up to a $2.4 million penalty for hosting unauthorized broadcasts, but the FCC’s authority to issue monetary forfeitures is currently under legal challenge (see 2504180021).
The Consumer Technology Association wants House and Senate Commerce committee leadership to oppose NAB’s petition to the FCC on the ATSC 3.0 transition, CTA CEO Gary Shapiro said in a letter to legislators Tuesday. The letter was sent to Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and House Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Comments on the NAB petition were due Wednesday in docket 16-142.
The Media Bureau is seeking comment on HC2’s petition asking the FCC to allow low-power broadcasters to transmit using the 5G broadcast standard, said a public notice Friday. Comments are due in docket 25-168 June 2, replies July 1. HC2 has argued that the standard, which some view as a competitor to ATSC 3.0, provides an opportunity for a flagging LPTV industry to broadcast to mobile devices (see 2504030053).
President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr are undermining the freedom of the press, said the Center for American Progress in a post Monday. In their actions against broadcasting networks, Trump and Carr have taken steps “to threaten, investigate, and continue litigating with media companies that Trump perceives as political adversaries,” CAP said. “Retribution against the media hurts everyday Americans, who depend on an undeterred press to accurately report the news, expose wrongdoing, and help them hold elected leaders accountable.” Using the FCC’s regulatory powers “against news organizations that Trump has long criticized, often for their protected editorial decisions,” is not in the public interest, CAP said. “The practices of Trump and the FCC -- including seemingly ignoring established legal processes and aggregating power -- could transform the press from a vigilant watchdog into a weakened lapdog.”
The FCC Enforcement Bureau’s Region One office in Maryland sent a warning to a business in Worcester, Massachusetts, about pirate radio broadcasts emanating from its property, said an agency notice issued Thursday. EB agents from the New York office found unauthorized radio broadcasts coming from the property owned by Devaney Realty Holdings in July and December of last year, the notice said. The address, 60 Fremont St., appears to house a leather goods store and an auto repair shop, according to an online search. The notice warned that the landowners could face up to a $2.4 million penalty for hosting pirate broadcasts. The FCC’s authority to issue monetary forfeitures is currently facing legal challenges in multiple courts (see 2504180021).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s statements and actions as head of the agency run exactly counter to his prior positions as a commissioner, said the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s Robert Corn-Revere in an article Wednesday in The Dispatch. Corn-Revere served as chief counsel to former FCC Commissioner James Quello.