Brendan Carr, Soon To Be FCC Chair, Says Commission Will Back Local TV Stations “Even If That’s In Conflict” With Broadcast Networks

deadline.com:

Brendan Carr, an FCC commissioner who is Donald Trump‘s pick to chair the regulatory body, vowed to back local TV stations “even if that’s in conflict with the interests of national broadcast networks.” Appearing Friday on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Carr continued to draw attention to broadcast networks’ “public interest” obligations in the wake of calls from Trump and his supporters to compel the FCC pull network licenses.

Two key flashpoints have been a CBS interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes and an appearance by the Democratic candidate on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. “Broadcast licenses are not sacred cows,” Carr said in the interview (WATCH IT ABOVE). “At the same time, when you think about media, separate it into two issues, right?

You’ve got the national networks, for instance ABC, NBC, CBS. They provide a lot of the content that the actual licensed local broadcasts disseminate.

And so we need to look at empowering those local broadcasters to serve their local communities, even if that’s in conflict with the interests of those national networks.