By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-06 22:01:38 | Updated at 2026-08-07 03:54:16
7 hours ago
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal the national TV ownership limit on Thursday, sparking anger and pushback, as plans are being made to take the decision straight to court.
The decision, made in a 2-1 vote along party lines, repealed the 22-year-old rule that limited a company to owning stations that could reach no more than 39 percent of the U.S. television audience, instead allowing it to be handled on a case-by-case basis, according to NBC News. (RELATED: Senate Committee Votes To Hold Fauci In Contempt)
Chairman Brendan Carr said, “Repealing the national cap will provide essential relief for local broadcasters by restoring a healthy counterbalance to the growing leverage of national programmers.”
However, those against the change have already announced that they will challenge the decision in court, suggesting that ending the cap is not only a big win for media companies aligned with Republicans, but also that only Congress could make such a change, according to CNN.
“The FCC is working on many fronts to bring balance back to the broadcast airwaves,” Carr said in response to CNN. “Localism matters, and today’s FCC vote is another step in the right direction.”
The FCC is working on many fronts to bring balance back to the broadcast airwaves.
Localism matters, and today’s FCC vote is another step in the right direction. https://t.co/X7s9Tf69IR
Chairman Carr’s team referred to the Daily Caller to his statement, which focused on the importance of localism in the media landscape.
The commission’s sole dissenting vote, Anna Gomez, challenged Carr in a statement, saying that eliminating the cap does not free local broadcasters from that strain, but merely “changes who is doing the squeezing” as the power transfers from Big Tech to Big Media.
She further stated that the cap was expressly codified by Congress.
Democrat Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that “Trump’s FCC just opened the floodgates for even worse media consolidation.”
BREAKING: Trump's FCC just opened the floodgates for even worse media consolidation.
That could mean billionaires buying more local TV stations to raise prices and control more of what you watch.
Another Trump anti-monopoly nightmare.
“That could mean billionaires buying more local TV stations to raise prices and control more of what you watch,” Warren continued. “Another Trump anti-monopoly nightmare.”
Matt Wood, general counsel of Free Press, which has vowed to sue over the change, said that “[Carr’s] goal is to spur more media consolidation involving companies Donald Trump views as ideological allies and corporate cronies,” according to CNN.
The third member of the commission, Olivia Trusty, framed the change as a much-needed update, noting how much the media landscape has changed since the cap was put in place. (RELATED: Trump Administration Bans Chinese Humanoid Robots, Robot Dogs Over National Security Concerns)
She argued that “these changes have fundamentally altered the competitive landscape for local broadcasters” by allowing local stations to compete with less-regulated platforms like Netflix and YouTube.
