The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by Chairman Brendan Carr, is taking decisive action to reform media ownership rules that critics say give Big Tech an unfair advantage. The proposed changes aim to strengthen local journalism, rebalance power between national networks and local affiliates, and create new competition in the digital advertising space.
On Wednesday night, the FCC will issue a Public Notice requesting comment on reforming the national broadcast television ownership cap. Under current regulations, a single company cannot own stations that reach more than 39% of American TV households. The rules also restrict ownership of major affiliates like ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, along with limits on AM and FM radio station ownership.
Carr is open to revising these limits to reduce the influence of national media conglomerates and to challenge the dominance of tech giants such as Google and Facebook. “People trust their local journalists,” Carr said in February. “They see them in their communities. These are the people who should have the freedom to serve their towns—not be squeezed by overreaching national networks.”
Carr highlighted that major networks like ABC, owned by Disney, are extracting steep financial demands from local stations, pulling key content such as sports programming, and pushing it onto cable or subscription platforms. In a December letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Carr warned that these practices could lead to blackouts and reduce public access to local news.
Carr argues that reforming the ownership cap will allow greater investment in struggling local outlets. “Right now, local stations can’t grow or attract the resources they need,” Carr noted in a March interview. “You’ll find a station in a small town running off a laptop from hundreds of miles away.”
The proposed changes have strong support in Congress and among conservative organizations. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and 21 other Republican senators called the rules outdated, pointing out that they were written before the rise of the internet. Meanwhile, Heritage Action for America and Citizens for Renewing America emphasized that local broadcasters are constrained in ways Big Tech is not, despite competing in the same marketplace.
Advertising dollars—crucial for the survival of local journalism—have increasingly flowed to unregulated tech platforms. By modernizing the FCC’s broadcast ownership rules, Carr seeks to level the playing field and restore the balance in American media.
