Brendan Carr, a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has raised concerns about the impact of TV network ABC’s ongoing broadcast agreement negotiations with local TV stations.
“My understanding is that ABC is attempting to extract onerous financial and operational concessions from local broadcast TV stations under the threat of terminating long-held affiliations,” Carr wrote in a Dec. 21 letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, first obtained by CNN. Disney owns ABC.
This could “result in blackouts and other harms to local consumers of broadcast news and content,” Carr said.
Carr was recently nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to assume the post of FCC chair in the incoming administration.
When local broadcast TV stations air ABC’s content, they have to financially compensate the network. The payment and other aspects related to airing the content are covered in the affiliate agreements signed between ABC and the stations. ABC is currently negotiating these agreements.
“Reporting indicates that certain of ABC’s affiliate agreements are set to expire at the end of this year, unless ABC and the local broadcast TV stations reach new agreements,” Carr wrote. “The approach that ABC is apparently taking in these negotiations concerns me.”
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