New FCC Chairman Continues Rapid Fire Approach

New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has continued to venture into new territory on several fronts, and all broadcasters should be paying close attention.

After ending the FCC’s DEI practices on his first full day as FCC Chairman, Carr recently sent a letter and announced on social media that the DEI practices of NBC Universal and Comcast would be investigated as inconsistent with FCC policy.

One week after a complaint from Senator Marsha Blackburn, the FCC Enforcement Bureau issued an Enforcement Advisory on the subject of Payola dealing with musical artists that perform at station events.  Two weeks later, Chairman Carr sent a letter to iHeart Media noting the payola advisory and asking for information related to the artists IHeart invites to perform at their music festival and actions taken by iHeart after the Advisory.

These actions follow earlier announced investigations of NPR/PBS for allegedly including commercials in content aired by their affiliates.

Carr’s approach is novel for a sitting FCC Chair, exerting the authority of the Chairman’s office to enforce regulations via investigation.