Trump’s FCC pick sends stern letter to Bob Iger, blasting ‘erosion in public trust’

New York (CNN) — The incoming chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is sending a stern message to the owners of television stations and networks. And he is using ABC’s recent settlement with President-elect Donald Trump as a news peg of sorts.

Brendan Carr, a Trump-appointed commissioner who will become chairman next month, wrote to Disney CEO Bob Iger over the weekend about the Disney-owned ABC network’s negotiations with its affiliated stations across the United States.

Carr used that narrow issue to advance some broad points about the state of the industry and to signal that he intends to wield a heavy hand in the top FCC role — taking a very different approach than his predecessors.

The letter, which was obtained by CNN, begins, “Dear Mr. Iger, Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.”

Carr cites polling data and says, “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.”

Carr then delineates between national networks and local stations (which are licensed by the FCC), saying, “Americans largely hold positive views of their local media outlets.”

He indicates support for more local programming — hardly a controversial idea. But his emphasis on the national media’s trust deficit — and his choice to write to Iger — shows that Carr, a commissioner since 2017, has different priorities than Republican and Democratic chairs in the past.

Instead of, say, the digital divide, Carr has highlighted Republican allegations of Big Tech censorship. And now he has advanced Trump’s criticism of ABC — albeit in a much more polite way. He seems happy to accept criticism for using his FCC position and X profile as a bully pulpit.

Disney may respectfully shrug off the commissioner’s letter, but he cites multiple areas where the media giant is subject to FCC regulation, including station licensing.

Television station license renewals are pro forma — licenses are rarely contested and essentially never denied — but during the presidential campaign Trump said he wanted ABC and other broadcasters to lose their licenses.

The FCC also oversees a process called retransmission consent, whereby cable distributors pay local stations for the right to retransmit their signals. When Disney-owned channels disappeared from DirecTV lineups for two weeks in September, retransmission consent was a key part of the dispute.

Most stations with ABC shows aren’t actually owned by the network; they are owned by other companies that strike affiliation agreements with ABC.

“The approach that ABC is apparently taking in these negotiations concerns me,” Carr says in the letter to Iger. “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.”

He also raises a concern about Disney prioritizing its global streaming services at the expense of local and freely accessible stations. Similar criticisms could theoretically be lodged against other major media companies.

“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 writes.

In effect, he is positioning himself as a friend to local media — and an antagonist to corporate owners.

An ABC spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carr concludes the letter stating that he will be “monitoring the outcome” of the ABC negotiations “to ensure that those negotiations enable local broadcast TV stations to meet their federal obligations and serve the needs of their local communities.”

The FCC has historically had little ability to shape the programming and conduct of American media companies — but Carr seems ready to try.

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