Let’s face it, open meetings of the Federal Communications Commission are usually not what you might call “exciting affairs.” When your agenda is filled with terms like “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” let’s just say that these meetings are filled with things that only get DC lawyers and policy wonks like us to sit up and take notice.

But after the Chairman of the FCC appears to take on the persona of a “mob boss” and suggests that his position appoints him as the arbiter of what is--and is not--considered to be protected as “free speech” (at least when broadcast over the air of local TV and radio stations that have federal licenses allowing them to operate), well then your normally quiet little meeting can turn into something much different.

And that is just what happened when protestors disrupted today's “Open Meeting” of the FCC to begin shouting, “Fire Carr, The Censorship Czar!” While not quite in the top three of protest chants, like “Hell no, we won’t go!”, it wasn’t the worst we’ve ever heard.

Reports indicate that Carr appeared to find the protest amusing, as he smiled through the disruption and kept the meeting going after the protesters were quickly removed. But not before one woman shouted, “Hope you enjoy promoting a pedophile’s agenda!"

It’s unclear, as we go to press, which, if any, organization was behind the protest.

Order was restored, the meeting resumed, and many crucial topics were reviewed, including “Accelerating Wireline Infrastructure Buildout," "Jamming Contraband Cellphones in State and Local Prisons," and "Deleting Obsolete and Duplicate Wireline Rules.” That last one is the formal name of the FCC’s contribution to the administration’s much-touted initiative of “Delete, Delete, Delete”.

However, the item that anyone working in television was most interested in on the agenda was the “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” known in commission lingo as an “NPRM,” that was titled “Modernizing Broadcast Ownership Regulations."

This seemingly innocuous idea is a proposal for the FCC to modify the regulations governing the ownership specifics for the licensed local radio and TV stations across the United States. For television, the regulation most anticipated to be changed is the one that limits any one company from owning more television stations than a total that would cover over 39% of the country's television households.

As you may know, this particular rule is of particular importance to Nexstar and its CEO, Perry Sook. That’s because Nexstar has proposed a $6 billion-plus deal to acquire rival TEGNA, becoming the owner of numerous local stations that would likely cover around 80% of the country.

And although our public school education may have left something to be desired in terms of our math skills, we are still fairly certain that 80% is more than 39%. Much more.

So this morning’s FCC meeting officially kicked off the process of “modernizing” the FCC’s “Broadcast Ownership Regulations.” Which, to be clear, means that the only decision of substance made was to invite the public to weigh in on the draft of proposed changes to the existing regulations. The National Association of Broadcasters has made it clear that it wants the existing ownership rules to be largely eliminated.

Of course, there will be individuals and public interest groups who will file comments in opposition to any changes in the FCC rules as they currently exist. Surely one or more of them will point out how the relaxation of regulations on radio station ownership appears to have led to the rise of the iHeart-Cumulus-Audacy-styled mega groups that have, for the most part, turned local radio into a homogenized offering of stations that sound the same in nearly any city in America.

Should you, dear reader, need some “light” reading to help with any bout of insomnia that you might be experiencing, you can dive into reading the entire “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” by clicking right here. We strongly advise against doing this before operating any heavy equipment.

After the meeting concluded, the FCC held a press conference, at which Chairman Carr was peppered with questions about his comments that preceded the surprise decision by Disney/ABC to suspend “Jimmy Kimmel Live” back on September 17th. Mr. Carr did a lot of deflecting, saying that it didn’t matter because Kimmel was already back on the air. He added that he didn’t even actually say what everyone (especially Democrats) said he said. But he didn’t miss the opportunity to reinforce that it is definitely within the FCC's purview to investigate complaints of “news distortion” against licensed broadcasters. He went on to essentially state that this is a well-established role of the FCC, as under Democratic administrations, complaints were brought against the Fox-owned station in Philadelphia (for the conduct of the Fox News Channel, which parent News Corp also owns) and stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

It’s that last example that we think deserves a little more examination. You may recall in 2018, when Sinclair required anchors in all of its stations to read the same script from corporate, warning of the dangers of “fake news” (on other outlets, of course). The episode garnered considerable attention online. It was ultimately reported on when a video showed dozens of local newscasts from Sinclair stations, apparently forced to deliver the exact same script that they had no say in.

So much for local stations having the freedom to make “local decisions” on what is “in the public interest” as their licenses require.

A number of viewers and groups wrote to the FCC to complain about what they felt was “news distortion.” The FCC indeed launched investigations of the local Sinclair stations that aired the segment. So this, according to the FCC Chairman Carr, proves that the FCC has previously used the licenses of local TV stations as a political tool when Democrats were in the majority.

One key difference between the Sinclair episode seven years ago and the latest kerfuffle over the ill-timed comment from Jimmy Kimmel about the murderer of Charlie Kirk is that Kimmel appears on a program that doesn’t in any way call itself “News.” Commenting about the news in a comedy show’s monologue, whether accurate or not, isn’t a case of news distortion. If it were, then we’d like to ask Chairman Carr if he has ever listened to the likes of Sean Hannity, Dana Loesch, Glenn Beck, Candace Owens, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton, or any of the dozens of other talk shows that occupy 24 hours of the program schedule on nearly 1,000 “News-Talk” radio stations across the country.

This point wasn’t lost on fellow FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who followed Carr in the press conference. She flatly stated that the FCC wasn’t supposed to ever be in the business of regulating free speech on the nation’s Radio and Television stations. Both the Bill of Rights and the Communications Act specifically say so. Gomez went on to make another key point, that the ownership cap on local television stations was actually codified in a statute passed by Congress. She raises the question of whether the FCC can even change the cap if it wanted to.

Thus, it may well be Congress that will have the last word on whether Nexstar, or anyone else, can own that many stations. And not “the Censorship Czar."

Probably means a lot more lobbying to come from the NAB and its members. That would quite possibly include some donations to be made (via "political action committees”) to the campaigns of influential members of Congress up for re-election in the 2026 midterms. Of course, some of that money might then be used to buy advertising time for political ads, some of which might air over those local radio and TV stations that just might have been hoping for those pesky ownership rules to be “delete, delete, deleted."

That’s assuming a lot of “mights", we know, including whether or not the Federal Government might still be open for business after a threatened government shutdown at midnight tonight.

Another reason to stay tuned. Just to see what happens next.

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