FCC Chair Brendan Carr has been making a lot of news as he cranks through a busy agenda at the Federal Communications Commission. He’s taking an aggressive approach that has thrilled his supporters and drawn strong condemnation from his foes.
We spoke with Carr in a nearly 40-minute-long interview this week (you can listen to it here) about much of what he’s been up to at the FCC and what he plans for the weeks and months ahead.
First, some news: Carr told us he’s sending a letter to ABC’s parent company, Disney, to probe its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. He said the company’s DEI initiatives may run afoul of the agency’s equal employment opportunity requirements for licensees.
Carr has made President Donald Trump’s crusade against DEI a priority for his chairmanship. Beyond probing Disney, Carr has said he will block mergers pending before the commission if one of the companies involved has DEI initiatives.
“To all businesses regulated by the FCC, I suggest that they get busy ending their promotion of DEI,” he said.
We also spoke with Carr about negotiations over making more spectrum commercially available, his views on whether Trump can fire FCC commissioners and his space agenda.
Let’s unpack the interview.
Spectrum: Carr told us he’s spoken with “high-ranking officials” at the Defense Department about the effort in Congress to make more spectrum commercially available.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), leaders of the Senate Commerce and House Energy and Commerce Committees, are pushing to expand spectrum availability for commercial use in the Republican reconciliation package. They also want to renew the FCC’s authority to auction spectrum, which has been expired for two years.
But members of the national security community and some of their Republican Hill allies have raised concerns about the effort, citing security risks.
Carr said he’s involved in talks with lawmakers and others to find a compromise and revealed the White House has been holding meetings on this issue.
Here’s Carr:
Media probes: Soon after taking over the FCC, Carr revived complaints against CBS, NBC and ABC over various issues concerning the 2025 election after they had been dismissed by the previous chair, Jessica Rosenworcel. He’s also investigating public broadcasters NPR and PBS for allegedly airing commercials.
Carr told us he wants to be “even-handed” in his approach, but many Democrats and some civil liberties groups say that hasn’t been the case and that Carr is chilling speech. They point out that while he brought back the complaints against the three networks, he didn’t revive one against Fox.
When we questioned Carr over the Fox complaint, which was centered on its coverage of the 2020 election, he said it was different from the others. He said there was a public comment period for the Fox complaint while the others were “summarily dismissed” without a record.
Agency independence: Trump’s assertion of control over independent agencies has drawn a lot of concern, but the president’s supporters say it’s within his constitutional authority. Trump has fired Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.
These officials are challenging their firings, and the Supreme Court will likely have to decide the issue eventually. The Humphrey’s Executor decision, which curbed the president’s power to remove officials at independent agencies at will, dates back to 1935.
But Carr noted to us the Communications Act of 1934, which created the FCC, was enacted before that Supreme Court ruling.
“Congress decided to impose no limit at all on the president’s removal of an FCC commissioner,” he said.
Space: Carr said he wants the United States to lead in the space economy, but some of his recent decisions, which potentially benefit Elon Musk’s Starlink, are drawing opposition.
Carr touted his approval of Starlink’s proposal of direct-to-cell service in partnership with T-Mobile. That came despite opposition from other telecom titans AT&T and Verizon.
Smaller satellite companies like EchoStar and Viasat have also raised concerns about diminishing competition in the sector as Starlink is gaining ground.
A potential unfair advantage for Musk has also been a concern for Democrats on the Hill, as we’ve reported.
But Carr dismissed concerns of an anticompetitive advantage and cited Globalstar’s partnership with Apple, AST SpaceMobile and AT&T, and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which plans on operating a satellite constellation similar to Starlink.
“That’s a really good, robust amount of competition given where we are in terms of the emergence of space services,” he said.
Universal Service Fund: We also spoke to Carr about the case currently playing out at the Supreme Court over the FCC’s Universal Service Fund program, which promotes service access to all Americans.
Justices are hearing arguments this morning over the constitutionality of the program that has been challenged by a conservative group over its funding and administration, which they say circumvent Congress. The USF is administered by the nonprofit Universal Service Administrative Company and is paid for by contributions from telecom providers.
But Carr didn’t firmly say he wants his agency’s program saved by the court.
Here’s Carr:
As we’ve reported, saving the program is a priority for members of both parties on the Hill.
