Happy New Year 2025

Tag: FCC

FCC chair brings receipts on Biden admin’s ‘expertise in incompetence’ in blistering message to Buttigieg

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr slammed former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for claiming Trump administration “incompetence” is putting Americans “at risk,” pointing to a multi-billion dollar project under the Biden administration that he said yielded no results.

“You worked for an Administration that got $42 billion to connect millions of Americans to the Internet,” Carr said in an X post on Saturday responding to Buttigieg. “1,163 days later, that Admin exited without connecting even 1 person & without turning even 1 shovel worth of dirt.”

“If we need expertise in incompetence, will reach out,” he added, accompanied by the peace sign emoji.

Carr was responding to a message Buttigieg posted on Friday that took issue with the Department of Government Efficiency, which has become a common target of Democrats as Elon Musk and the DOGE team work through federal government agencies in its quest of extinguishing government fraud and overspending.

FCC COMMISSIONER HITS BIDEN ADMIN FOR $42 BILLION IN UNSPENT HIGH SPEED INTERNET FUNDS

Federal Communication Commission chairman Brendan Carr has opened an investigation into radio station controlled by left-wing billionaire George Soros. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Incompetence in Washington puts every American at risk, no matter how you voted. No one should be happy that the DOGE team – the same folks who randomly published classified U.S. security information online today – wants access to your bank account & Social Security numbers,” Buttigieg posted to X on Friday, referring to accusations DOGE posted classified information to its website, which the White House has refuted.

FCC LAUNCHES PROBE INTO NBC NEWS PARENT COMCAST ‘TO ROOT OUT INVIDIOUS FORMS OF DEI DISCRIMINATION’

The Biden administration in 2021 approved a $42.5 billion provision in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was directed to a program intended to deliver internet to underserved and rural areas of the nation. Four years later, however, the program has not connected users to the internet, the Washington Policy Center found in a report last year.

Former President Biden, FCC chair Brendan Carr, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. (Getty Images)

States were required to submit plans to the federal government by 2023 related to the investment and deployment of the internet services. Former President Joe Biden, upon the states submitting their plans, celebrated the internet initiative as similar to former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1936 Rural Electrification Act, which brought electricity to homes nationwide.

“What we’re doing is, as I said, not unlike what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did when he brought electricity to nearly every American home and farm in our nation. Today, Kamala and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America — everyone in America to high-speed Internet by — and affordable high-speed Internet — by 2030,” Biden said at the White House in June of 2023.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks during a press conference on June 28, 2021, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Carr has frequently taken issue with the $42.5 billion program, including citing it in X posts before President Donald Trump’s election win in November, and the president subsequently appointing the Republican FCC commissioner as chair of the government agency.

FCC CHAIR SAYS IT’S ‘REALLY CONCERNING’ THAT A SOROS-BACKED RADIO STATION EXPOSED UNDERCOVER ICE AGENTS

“In 2021, the Biden Administration got $42.45 billion from Congress to deploy high-speed Internet to millions of Americans,” wrote on X back in June “Years later, it has not connected even 1 person with those funds. In fact, it now says that no construction projects will even start until 2025 at earliest.”

President Joe Biden speaks about his administration on Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Carr explained to Fox Business back in June that while the funds were allocated to states to deliver internet services through the program, the Biden administration was at fault for the lack of progress.

“There’s no question that the 2021 law put some process in place, but the Biden administration decided to layer on top of that a Byzantine additional set of hoops that states have to go through before the administration will approve them to actually get these funds and start completing the builds,” Carr told FOX Business in an interview in June.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

He added that while some high-speed internet projects had connected people during the Biden administration, none were funded through the $42.5 billion allocation from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.

Fox News Digital’s Breck Dumas contributed to this report.

February 17, 2025
India vs England 2nd ODI Live – Opn Sports Live – Sports Corner Live – Live Match Today

Brendan Carr will oversee his first Super Bowl as chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) this Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles square off in Super Bowl LIX, and he has one request: “no wardrobe malfunctions.”

During an appearance on “The Story,” Carr made a lighthearted plea that airwaves stay family-friendly during Sunday’s big game.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr testifies before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee during confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill July 19, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

SIGN UP FOR TUBI AND STREAM SUPER BOWL LIX FOR FREE

“This is going to be the first Super Bowl where I’m chairman of the FCC,” Carr, who officially took over last month, said with a smile.

“So one ask I have – please no wardrobe malfunctions this Sunday. That’s my only ask. That would ruin my evening.”

Carr’s request comes more than 20 years after the infamous wardrobe malfunction Janet Jackson suffered when she was the headliner for the Super Bowl in 2004.

Janet Jackson (KMazur/WireImage)

HOW TO WATCH SUPER BOWL LIX BETWEEN CHIEFS, EAGLES STREAMED ON TUBI

Justin Timberlake joined Jackson as a surprise guest during the halftime performance. He infamously ripped her costume, exposing her breast to a broadcast audience of around 150 million viewers.

The game was aired on CBS and resulted in massive fallout for the network and Jackson, who was blacklisted as a result.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Super Bowl LIX will be streamed on Tubi. (Tubi)

The FCC received more than half a million complaints, eventually leading to an investigation where CBS was fined $550,000 for the incident. The penalty was later voided by a U.S. Court of Appeals.

Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

February 8, 2025
Trump FCC chair targets NPR, PBS for investigation ahead of Congressional threats to defund

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched an investigation into media outlets PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) over member stations potentially airing “prohibited commercial advertisements,” according to a letter obtained by The New York Times.

“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” FCC chair Brendan Carr wrote, according to the Times. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

The FCC allows businesses to support noncommercial radio and television stations — such as NPR, PBS or college radio stations — via on-air announcements known as underwriting sponsorships. The sponsorships, though similar to advertisements, face different FCC rules than typical TV or radio ads.

Carr sent the letters Wednesday to NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger, according to the Times. He has been a member of the FCC since 2017, and was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as the commission’s chair under his second administration.

TRUMP TAPS FCC MEMBER BRENDAN CARR TO LEAD AGENCY: ‘WARRIOR FOR FREE SPEECH’

Brendan Carr was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as the Federal Communications Commission chair Trump’s second administration. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Carr continued in his letter that he will alert Congress to the investigation, noting that lawmakers already are weighing whether NPR and PBS should receive taxpayer funds.

“In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” he wrote, according to the Times.

“To the extent that these taxpayer dollars are being used to support a for profit endeavor or an entity that is airing commercial advertisements, then that would further undermine any case for continuing to fund NPR and PBS with taxpayer dollars,” he continued.

Fox News Digital reached out to the FCC regarding the letter and the Times’ report, but did not immediately receive a response.

GOP SENATOR EYES LEGISLATION TO DEFUND ‘PROPAGANDIST’ NPR AFTER SUSPENSION OF WHISTLEBLOWER

NPR chief Maher said in response to the letter that NPR’s sponsorship practices “complies with federal regulations.”

“NPR programming and underwriting messaging complies with federal regulations, including the FCC guidelines on underwriting messages for noncommercial educational broadcasters, and Member stations are expected to be in compliance as well,” Maher said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Thursday.

“I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” FCC chair Brendan Carr recently wrote, according to The New York Times. (Getty Images)

TRUMP FCC CHAIR PICK STRESSES NEED TO ‘RESTORE’ FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

“We are confident any review of our programming and underwriting practices will confirm NPR’s adherence to these rules,” Maher said. “We have worked for decades with the FCC in support of noncommercial educational broadcasters who provide essential information, educational programming, and emergency alerts to local communities across the United States.”

PBS told Times it is proud of its “noncommercial educational programming,” and worked “diligently to comply with the F.C.C.’s underwriting regulations.”

NPR and PBS are both public broadcasting organizations, and both are bracing to potentially lose public funding under the Trump administration.

“NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social in April 2024, potentially previewing their fate under his second administration. “THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!”

Republican members of Congress also have introduced bills that would defund the public broadcasting organizations, such as Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry introducing the No Propaganda Act in December 2024.

“The American Taxpayer is footing the bill for a woke media corporation that pretends to be impartial while pushing Chinese propaganda,” Perry said when introducing the legislation. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting “cannot be allowed to keep using your hard-earned tax dollars to push a biased and political agenda that goes against what’s best for Americans.”

NPR and PBS are both public broadcasting organizations, and both are bracing to potentially lose public funding under the Trump administration. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Carr’s name recognition grew large right ahead of the Nov. 5, 2024, election, when he lambasted NBC’s decision to host former Vice President Kamala Harris on “Saturday Night Live” in the final episode ahead of Election Day, but did not offer equal time to Trump or other candidates in the presidential cycle.

TRUMP’S CHOICE FOR FCC CHAIRMAN SAYS AGENCY ‘WILL END ITS PROMOTION OF DEI’ NEXT YEAR

The FCC’s equal-time rule was established in 1934, and requires radio and television broadcast stations to provide the same amount of time for competing political candidates. There are exceptions to the rule, such as newscasts, documentaries and political debates.

Brendan Carr wrote that he will alert Congress to the investigation, noting that lawmakers already are weighing whether NPR and PBS should receive taxpayer funds. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“NBC has structured this in a way that’s plainly designed to evade the FCC’s rules. We’re talking 50 hours before Election Day starts, without any notice to other candidates, as far as I can tell,” Carr told Fox News Digital at the time. “And after previously coming out and saying they weren’t going to do this precisely because they did not believe that they could do this consistent with election laws and the FCC’s equal time rule.”

NBC ultimately filed an equal time notice amid outrage over Harris’ appearance.

KAMALA HARRIS APPEARS ON ‘SNL’ IN FINAL EPISODE BEFORE ELECTION

President Donald Trump, pictured here, appointed Brendan Carr to lead the FCC shortly after his November 2024 election win, with Carr taking the helm of the commission in January. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

Trump appointed Carr to lead the FCC shortly after his November 2024 election win, with Carr taking the helm of the commission in January. Carr was first nominated to the commission by Trump during his first administration, and served as the senior Republican member of the FCC until his appointment as chair.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms, and held back our Economy,” Trump said in a statement about the appointment. “He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.”

January 30, 2025