President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to become chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, has his sights set on Bob Iger and ABC.
In a letter obtained by CNN, Carr wrote to the Disney CEO over the weekend about his concerns regarding ABC’s coverage, as well as its negotiations with its affiliated stations across the U.S.
He also castigated the company over a recent $15 million settlement with Trump, which ended a defamation lawsuit against ABC News filed by the president-elect. He said the lawsuit raised concerns about the Disney-owned network’s “conduct.”
“Dear Mr. Iger, Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Carr began. “ABC’s own conduct has certainly contributed to this erosion in public trust. For instance, ABC News recently agreed to pay $15 million to President Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum and an additional $1 million in attorney fees to settle a defamation case.”
The future chairman and Project 2025 author proceeded to outline his concerns with ABC’s handling of its affiliation agreements with different companies that own local media stations, which the FCC licenses.
He cited polling that Americans “largely hold positive views” of their local media outlets while insinuating that ABC’s approach in its negotiations could hinder the success of local news as a whole.
“The approach that ABC is apparently taking in these negotiations concerns me,” Carr said. “My understanding is that ABC is attempting to extract onerous financial and operational concessions from local broadcast TV stations under the threat of terminating long-held affiliations, which could result in blackouts and other harms to local consumers of broadcast news and content.”
Carr also brought up Disney’s prioritization of its streaming services as another point of concern, and reiterated the importance of funneling that support back to local media.
“The fact that a massive trust divide has emerged between local news outlets and national programmers like ABC only increases the importance of retransmission consent revenues remaining available for local broadcast TV stations to invest in their local news operations and content that serves their communities,” Carr explained.
He concluded his letter by saying that he’ll be “monitoring the outcome” of ABC’s negotiations to “ensure that those negotiations enable local broadcast TV stations to meet their federal obligations and serve the needs of their local communities.”
Last week, it was reported that Iger had approved ABC News’ settlement with Trump, with the network agreeing to pay $15 million to the president-elect’s future presidential foundation and museum along with an additional $1 million for legal fees.
The suit was brought after veteran ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos inaccurately stated on air that Trump was found civilly liable for rape while.
