Trump says networks may need to have their licenses taken away - MSNBC Reports

[Rhiannon12866]

When asked about ABC pulling "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air, Trump said networks are mostly against him and that their licenses may have to be "taken away." He went on to say that decision will be up to FCC Chair Brendan Carr.

Former Rep. Denver Riggleman, host of "The Bulwark" podcast Tim Miller and Senior Writer at WIRED Jake Lahut join to discuss. - Aired on 09/18/2025.

[multigraincracker]

1. We need to neuter tfg in the mid-term elections.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. The CEO of his own Cult of Personality

A sterile world of yes men. No disagreement ever. No differences of opinion. Ever. Complete regimentation. This is the end game.

[Justice matters.]

3. Total capitulation to a raving sadistic felon who orders to kill human beings.

Is actually making the US the laughing stock of the rest of the free world.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. I've often wondered how many American deaths he is responsible for

Between January 6th and Covid, there must be thousands - and yet he's pro-death penalty...

[Justice matters.]

9. Pedofelon braggs about blowing up fishermen on their way to Trinidad

from Venezuela.

No way these boats can reach the US coasts without refueling their small tanks.

He chuckles about killing them like the sadistic racist he is and always was.

The US is now the laughing stock of the rest of the free world!

[Rhiannon12866]

10. You're right, he murders with no conscience

[MrWowWow]

4. DumbFuck tr💩mp STILL Doesn't Understand Radio and TV Broadcast Law!!!

In the U.S., the FCC licenses individual broadcast stations (TV and radio). Each station must have a license to operate on its assigned frequency.

The networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc.) are not licensed by the FCC in the same way. They are content providers/distributors that affiliate with local, FCC-licensed stations.


So:

FCC license → station

No FCC license → network (as a whole)


The FCC can regulate content standards and rules (like indecency, political advertising, EAS alerts) that apply through the stations, but it doesn’t hand out a “network license.”

Here’s how it works:

Networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, etc.) are corporations. They produce and distribute programming. They aren’t “licensees” of the airwaves.

To reach the public, they sign affiliation agreements with individual FCC-licensed stations. Those stations agree to carry the network’s programming at certain times.

The FCC regulates the stations’ licenses, not the network’s existence. The network just operates as a business entity under ordinary corporate law.

The FCC does, however, review mergers, acquisitions, and ownership structures involving networks and stations (e.g., when NBC is owned by Comcast, or if a network tries to own too many stations in a single market). That oversight is through its media ownership and competition rules, not through issuing a “network license.”


So a network doesn’t apply for or hold an “operating permit” from the FCC — it relies on its affiliated or owned stations, which are licensed individually.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Thanks so much for that!

I used to work with the commercial networks, primarily CBS and Fox (The Simpsons), dealt with publicists and news people to provide listings and descriptions for the newspapers, and it depresses me terribly what's happening now.

[Klarkashton]

7. He doesn't know anything. He is just talking shit.

Making threats
One day he says that everybody loves him the next day everybody hates him.

[C_U_L8R]

8. Broadcast media is dead.

A corrupt Trump administration has ensured that.
Time to move on.