FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched investigations into a wave of Big Four network affiliation changes, warning that some recent moves by broadcasters may violate federal policy.
In a Thursday interview with Policyband, Carr said the FCC is “taking investigatory action right now on at least one, if not more, of these affiliation transactions.”
He expressed particular concern that the flurry of affiliation activity risks leaving local television stations in a weaker bargaining position relative to the major networks that supply them with national news and entertainment programming.
Brendan Carr
Carr stressed that broadcasters cannot treat affiliation swaps as an unregulated free-for-all. “This is not the Wild West, or as I like to say, it’s not Nam. There are some rules of the road,” he said. “To the extent that some broadcasters are of the view that this is a complete and total Wild West, I think that they are mistaken in that position.”
The investigations underscore the FCC’s intent to enforce existing rules governing network-station relationships amid a period of significant realignment in the television industry.