FCC chair suggests ABC skipping Trump's speech will factor in license renewal decision

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr suggested this week that ABC's recent decision to skip President Donald Trump's primetime address could factor into the network's broadcast license renewals.

ABC, along with NBC, opted not to air the speech that addressed election security and apparent vulnerabilities during the 2020 election on linear television. CNN also skipped the address, but ABC and NBC are broadcast networks regulated by the FCC, while cable channels have more flexibility. 

"I was asked at the beginning of the week whether I thought broadcasters should air the president's remarks, and I said, of course they should," Carr told Fox News Digital. "And they should do so because they have an obligation at the end of the day to operate in the public interest to serve the needs of their communities. And I think making sure that people have access to significant presidential addresses is part and parcel of what all broadcasters should want to do."

While broadcast networks skipping a presidential primetime address is not unprecedented, Carr suggested that the saga might not go away anytime soon. 

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Several networks skipped over President Donald Trump's remarks at the White House on July 16, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

"There's been a lot of interest in Congress. Obviously, we got a letter from Congress asking us to investigate the decisions to do this or not do this, and we're reviewing the letter itself, at least at this point. And there's been a lot of interest in this, so we'll see where it goes," Carr said.

Carr was referring to a letter from Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., to the FCC on Monday calling on the agency to review broadcast networks' decisions and whether they violated their obligation to "serve the public interest."

"Broadcasters may criticize, analyze, or fact-check the President's statements," he wrote. "However, refusing to air a major presidential address because executives disagree with its content raises serious concerns that they intended to keep Americans in the dark about potential foreign interference in our elections."

Fox News Digital reached out to ABC's parent company, Disney, for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

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Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr told Fox News Digital that there's "interest" in investigating ABC's decision. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In additional comments to reporters on Wednesday, Carr added that the concerns over ABC not airing the speech could be brought up during ongoing investigations and proceedings on the network.

"I’m sure that there are going to be points raised in that proceeding that relate to Disney’s decision..." he said. "Again, we’re going to hold all broadcasters to the public interest obligations, and we’re always looking to make sure they do exactly that."

Carr called the licenses of eight ABC-owned stations for early renewal in April. The stations must prove they have been operating in the public interest as part of an ongoing look at Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. The Disney-owned ABC affiliates’ licenses were originally scheduled to be renewed between 2028 and 2031, but Trump’s FCC expedited the process. 

On Thursday, a group of 14 conservative organizations, led by the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF), reiterated support for Carr's deregulatory efforts in the communications sector but respectfully urged the FCC to "preserve the well-established, routine, predictable, and presumptive nature of broadcast license renewals."

"Our concern is that establishing precedents of non-routine renewal creates a powerful lever that future FCCs — including ones hostile to conservative, religious, or otherwise disfavored broadcasters — would be all too willing to pull. The surest protection against that future is to keep the renewal process predictable today," they wrote. 

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The FCC is also investigating daytime talk shows like ABC's "The View" for failing to provide equal treatment for political candidates. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The FCC also launched an investigation into network talk shows like ABC's "The View" over its alleged failure to provide equal treatment for political candidates. ABC has asserted that the FCC previously recognized "The View" as a "bona fide" news program in 2002, making it an exception to equal time rules.

ABC and NBC stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group did preempt the networks and aired Trump's speech. 

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Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.