Posted on 09/17/2025 6:31:13 PM PDT by DoodleBob
… As the foregoing history suggests, the fundamental legal framework that governs the broadcast industry sets it apart from other media. In broadcasting, the Federal Government grants exclusive free speech rights to licensees, while denying such freedom to others. To justify this privileged treatment, Congress and the courts have mandated that licensees serve as “public trustees” of the airwaves.
The public trustee model has given rise to a distinct genre of First Amendment jurisprudence. Unlike newspapers and magazines, broadcasters have affirmative statutory and regulatory obligations to serve the public in specific ways. Despite the philosophical complications and political tensions that this arrangement entails, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the public trustee basis of broadcast regulation as constitutional.(9 ) The reason that broadcasters have substantial, but not complete, First Amendment protection, said the Court, is the scarcity of broadcasting frequencies and the Government licensing that is necessary:
When there are substantially more individuals who want to broadcast than there are frequencies to allocate, it is idle to posit an unabridgeable First Amendment right to broadcast comparable to the right of every individual to speak, write or publish….A license permits broadcasting, but the licensee has no constitutional right to be the one who holds the license or to monopolize a radio frequency to the exclusion of his fellow citizens.(10)
Therefore, the Government may require a licensee “to share his frequency with others and to conduct himself as a proxy or fiduciary with obligations to present those views and voices which are representative of his community and which would otherwise, by necessity, be barred from the airwaves.”(11)
(Excerpt) Read more at current.org ...
BREAKING: The FCC Chairman is threatening immediate action against Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and Disney for deliberately misleading the public by claiming Charlie Kirk’s assassin was a MAGA Conservative.
Chairman Brendan Carr calls Kimmel’s malicious lies are “truly sick” and says they should result in Kimmel's immediate suspension and may lead to ABC losing its broadcast license.
Chairman Carr confirms the agency has a “strong case” to hold Kimmel, ABC, and Disney accountable for spreading dangerous, politically motivated misinformation.
"This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead."
"They have a license granted by us at the FCC, and that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest."
"There are calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this."
"The FCC could make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people about a very core fundamental fact, a very important matter."
"Disney needs to see some change here, but the individual licensed stations that are taking their content, it's time for them to step up and say this, you know, garbage to the extent that that's what comes down the pipe in the future isn't something that we think serves the needs of our local communities. But, but this sort of status quo is obviously not, not acceptable where we are."
Later, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr clarified matters a bit..
Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.
As some have already stated, Kimmel was most likely losing money for ABC, and this gives them the opportunity to fire him.
The FCC created these rules long before the Internet and digital broadcasting. They are as antiqued as PBS and NPR. Let the free market regulate speech - not the goverment
I agree.
Thanks. I was about to put on my flameproof underwear.
This means Kimmel will get an Emmy doesn’t it?
Then they can go to cable and streaming and not use government regulated bandwidth to spew their one sided filth. Bandwidth is regulated because it is limited.
He could use one
...oh, "Emmy", thought you said enema.
I agree with you.
Jimmy can broadcast on YouTube.
Electromagnetic frequencies get rationed and government controlled.
The story here is Mickey Mouse was forced to do the right thing by its affiliates.
As media entities accumulate affiliates that gives these entities a lot of leverage.
And they put it to good use here by cancelling Kimmel.
I’m not sure how the affiliates at CBS and NBC are divided up.
CBS under Ellison appears to be moving toward putting out of control CBS News in check.
And Commiecast NBC attempted to distance itself from PMSNBC with a rebrand and restructure.
The future of CNN is much in doubt and PBS has been defunded.
This guy Trump sure has shook up Big Media in a short amount of time.
When he leaves office, the media landscape will have undergone quite a transformation and all for the better.
This is why the FCC is empowered to regulate the airwaves. Not that I like it. It just is.
Given the internet etc. we don’t need broadcast TV. I would prefer for the FCC to be dissolved, the broadcast airwaves be blocked, and have ABC, NBC, and CBS move to cable.
I like the idea of Kimmel being sidelined. I don’t like the FCC pushing the matter; who know what’ll happen when a Dem comes into power.
How many people use bandwidth these days? Very few.
What conservative comedian do you fear would be blocked on a broadcast channel?
The GOVERNMENT! —the FCC did nothing here except express concern.
Kimmel was insulting and purposely misled most of Nexstar Media’s audience — 26 ABC affiliates who cherished Charlie Kirk. Nexstar started the collapse. Disney wisely followed.
Kimmel comments are being defended as ‘comedy’. ..just a joke. Bull shit !
Thank Nexstar
They yanked 15 million abc households
The boss man did not mince words btw
Plus Disney is in merger or sell off talks
Kimmel was a complication
Are you retarded? It’s not the number of users it’s the RF that is finite.
Spectrum Allocation: Airwaves are divided into frequency bands (e.g., 88–108 MHz for FM radio, 470–694 MHz for TV, 1–6 GHz for 4G/5G). Global demand for spectrum has surged, with 33.4 GHz of spectrum allocated for mobile services by 2024.
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