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

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr tells Fox News Digital that broadcasters need to operate in the public interest and airing a significant presidential address is part of the deal. 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. "An