ABC’s Negotiations With Local TV Stations Concerning, Says FCC Commissioner

Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has raised concerns about the impact of TV network ABC’s ongoing broadcast agreement negotiations with local TV stations. “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,” Carr wrote in a Dec. 21 letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, first obtained by CNN. Disney owns ABC. This could “result in blackouts and other harms to local consumers of broadcast news and content,” Carr said. Carr was recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to assume the post of FCC chair in the incoming administration....