FCC Investigating Comcast and NBCUniversal’s Treatment of Broadcast Affiliates

The FCC has opened an inquiry into Comcast and NBCUniversal’s treatment of broadcast affiliates, an investigation the company said in a statement Tuesday night it will “cooperate” with and “answer their questions.”

“We have received an inquiry from the FCC and will cooperate with them to answer their questions. We are proud that for many decades we have supported local broadcast TV stations with world-class sports and entertainment, enabling them to drive viewership in a media environment that has grown increasingly competitive. Local stations are a critical part of Americans’ lives as a trusted source for news and life-saving weather information, and we will continue to invest heavily in this partnership to keep the broadcast business strong,” the company said in a statement provided to TheWrap.

According to Newsmax, which first reported the investigation, Carr sent a letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts earlier Tuesday informing him that the FCC Media Bureau is investigating the company’s relationship with affiliates.

The letter is not as of this writing posted on the FCC’s website and has not been made public; representatives for the FCC didn’t immediately respond to inquiries from TheWrap. Newsmax reports that the investigation seeks to determine if Comcast business practices undermine local stations’ public service obligations or independence.

“For years, the FCC has stepped away from enforcing critical regulations designed to protect localism,” Carr wrote in a portion of the letter excerpted by Newsmax. “This retreat has encouraged large national programmers like Comcast to exert more control over licensed local broadcast stations, eroding the ability of local media to serve their communities.”

It’s not clear what — if anything — prompted the investigation. But it comes amid the larger context of the Trump administration’s larger attacks on independent media, which Carr has doggedly championed. It’s also not the first investigation of NBCU or Comcast under Carr’s FCC. He opened an investigation of the company in February for what he termed “promotion of DEI.”

Lucas Manfredi contributed to this report.

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