[Radio & Television] Licenses are renewed for a maximum of eight years, and during the renewal process the FCC determines whether the licensee has served the public interest; has not committed any serious violations of the Communications Act or the FCC’s rules; and has not committed other violations which, taken together, would constitute a pattern of abuse.
These fraudulent TV companies do indeed need to acquire and retain licenses--and refusing to cover a Presidential Impeachment Hearing televised by the United States Congress for political reasons definitely qualifies for a revocation of the license.
I believe it is the stations that are licensed, not the networks, but I certainly could be wrong about it. Now some big-market stations are or at least used to be owned by the networks. When I was a kid in the L.A. area one station was KABC, and another was KRCA (NBC). The CBS station was KNX-TV, but I don’t know if CBS owned it.
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