Trump Says He ‘Would Not Be Happy’ If FCC Lifts TV Ownership Cap, Fears It May Boost ‘Radical Left’ Networks

• President Donald Trump has said that relaxing the FCC’s TV ownership cap, which would allow TV station operators Nexstar and Tegna to merge, would allow “Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge.’”
• Trump has repeatedly criticised ABC and NBC, TV networks whose programming is on Nexstar’s and Tegna’s TV stations, for peddling fake news and serving as mouthpieces for the Democratic Party.
• The Nexstar-Tegna merger hinges on the FCC relaxing its rule, which currently limits a single company from reaching more than 30% U.S. TV households. 

President Donald Trump on Sunday indicated that he’s not in favour of lifting the current cap on television station ownership, essential for the $6.2 billion merger of Nexstar and Tegna to proceed, using the opportunity to again criticise networks like ABC and NBC for peddling fake news and serving as mouthpieces for the Democratic Party.

Trump Cries Growing Influence Of Left-Leaning Networks

Trump believes the merger (note that Nexstar and Tegna TV stations carry several ABC and NBC shows) would allow the left-leaning networks to gain greater influence.

“This would also allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, with an attached news article about Nexmax CEO Christopher Ruddy opposing the potential removal of the cap and the Nexstar-Tegna merger.

Speaking about ABC, owned by The Walt Disney Co., and NBC, owned by Comcast, Trump said they are “A VIRTUAL ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY.”

“They should be viewed as an illegal campaign to the Radical Left. NO EXPANSION OF THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS. If anything, make them SMALLER!” he said.

Trump has spoken against the networks and, notably, the ABC late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel, several times in the past. Last year, Trump won a $16 million settlement in a defamation lawsuit against ABC News for one of its anchors’ inaccurate remarks about a sexual abuse case involving Trump.

Nexstar-Tegna Merger Rests On FCC’s Ruling

Meanwhile, Newsmax CEO has said that if the Nexstar-Tegna merger were to go through, the Republican Party’s media reach would diminish, affecting its political chances. 

“Reagan understood if you have left-wing networks like ABC, NBC and CBS – or groups like Nexstar today controlling every local station and their local news — Republicans would have little chance to win in state and federal elections," Ruddy said. 

He also said the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to allow networks to bypass the statutory cap using "sidecar" deals or redefinitions are violations of the law.

The FCC rule to limit any company from amassing stations that reach more than a certain percentage of TV households was first established under the Ronald Reagan administration (1985-1986).

The current cap is 39%. Nextstar and Tegna combined would roughly cover 80% of U.S. TV households. Nexstar officially filed with the FCC for approval of its merger last week.

FCC chair Brendan Carr said on Oct. 28 that the regulator had not decided to relax the cap, although he believed the commission could revise it without congressional approval.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was ‘extremely bullish’ for Nexstar, ‘neutral’ for Tegna and Comcast, and ‘bearish’ for Disney as of late Sunday.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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