FCC Chair Hints At Targeting 'Early Renewals'

The FCC could accelerate reviews of broadcast television station licenses, potentially bringing them up earlier than their scheduled October 2028 renewal date, FCC Chair Brendan Carr told Reuters.

Carr said "you can do early renewals" and that licenses "could come up earlier than 2028." He described revocation as possible, stating "all of that stuff is on the table" amid ongoing FCC investigations into broadcasters including NBC, ABC, PBS, NPR, CBS, and Disney-owned properties.

Carr emphasized that forcing broadcasters to "reorient their operations to the public interest" would be a "good thing long-term," noting the FCC has not revoked a TV station license in over 40 years.

The comments came in an interview last week, before Carr escalated public threats against broadcasters on Saturday, including warnings tied to coverage of the Iran war and "fake news" or "news distortions." Trump has repeatedly pressured the FCC to revoke licenses of outlets like NBC and ABC, owned by Comcast, and expressed being "thrilled" about Carr's scrutiny of media companies.

The FCC is probing multiple issues, such as DEI efforts at Disney and ABC, equal-time rule compliance on ABC's "The View," complaints about a 2024 "60 Minutes" interview on CBS (owned by Paramount Skydance), a 2024 "Saturday Night Live" episode featuring then-Vice President Kamala Harris on NBC, and advertising sponsorships of PBS and NPR. Carr said outcomes remain open-ended: "We'll see where they go."

Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez countered that early-renewal efforts are "exceedingly rare" and likely to fail due to demanding processes and underlying First Amendment concerns, adding that the FCC is "powerless to carry them out" despite issuing threats.