President Donald Trump’s feud with the major broadcast networks has thrust the Federal Communications Commission and its “public-interest standard” into the national spotlight. While the agency and the White House have largely been in lockstep, Trump made news recently when he vocally came out against an active FCC proposal to reform the agency’s broadcast-ownership rules.

Notably, it doesn’t appear that Trump’s objection had much to do with a desire to preserve the 39% national market cap imposed on independent broadcasters. Rather, he directed his ire at the possibility that changing the rules would allow what he calls “the fake news networks” to grow larger. But if the president wants to curtail the major networks’ power, the proposed broadcast-ownership reforms would go a long way toward that goal.

The major television networks do own and operate some of their affiliates, but the vast majority—roughly 93% of the nearly 1,000 nationwide—are owned by independent broadcast groups like Nexstar Media Group, Gray Media, Tegna and Sinclair. These independent broadcasters are limited in their reach because of the national market cap set by Congress, as well as various rules regarding multiple station ownership in smaller markets.

If the restrictions were removed, independent broadcast companies could increase their reach to more Americans. As the number of stations they own increases, so too would the efficiencies and cost savings per station. And more importantly, the broadcasters’ negotiating power would increase as well. If Sinclair or Nexstar could reach most markets in the country, the networks would have more incentive to negotiate better terms with them.

As FCC Chair Brendan Carr has made abundantly clear, broadcasters have a public-interest obligation that comes with their broadcast license. This requirement comes with rules that do not apply to other services, like cable television or online streaming applications. And while the First Amendment grounds for this type of regulation have been long debated, the pressure of regulation has seen some behavioral changes among the major networks.

When ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk, Carr gave a vague warning to affiliates: you are on the hook if the content the networks provide violate commission rules. And indeed, both Sinclair and Nexstar temporarily refused to air the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” program.

Since then, the Trump administration has been exploring ways to shift power in the network-affiliate relationship. Carr released a public notice in November asking for comments about the current market dynamics of affiliate agreements and the need for updates to FCC rules that would give affiliates more power when negotiating with the networks.

But changes to the affiliate rules would do little to change the market dynamics. The television networks no longer need local affiliates to reach consumers. In today’s media landscape, they can reach consumers directly through streaming apps. And this trend will likely continue as more content—especially live sports—moves exclusively to apps like Peacock (owned by NBC parent Comcast), Disney+ (owned by ABC parent Disney) and Paramount+ (owned by CBS parent Paramount).

But broadcasting probably isn’t going away entirely, either. Broadcast is free and over-the-air, so for those few Americans who don’t have broadband and the many Americans who don’t want to pay for myriad streaming services, it remains a viable option. Broadcast stations are also inherently local, meaning much of independent broadcasters’ non-network content is locally targeted, which also gives local advertisers a direct line to the community.

If the president wants to empower the independent broadcasters, the answer isn’t with changes to the network-affiliation rules. Instead, it is to allow independent broadcasters to increase their value and compete on fair terms. The best way to allow them to compete is to support the FCC’s media-ownership reforms.

The president’s feud with the broadcast networks will likely continue. But if he really wants to hit the Big Four where it hurts, he needs to get the government out of the broadcast business. By allowing the market to work, independent broadcasters will have more control over the content they choose to air, providing the check to the major networks he desires.

In a social media post on Nov. 23, President Donald Trump linked to a Newsmax article that said lifting FCC station ownership caps would be a “disaster for conservatives.” Trump also complained that if proposals to lift the cap “would allow the Radical Left Networks to ‘enlarge,’ I would not be happy…If anything make them SMALLER!”

The attachment of the Newsmax story indicated that the post clearly backed positions taken by Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy in articles and filings with the Federal Communications Commission that oppose lifting the ownership caps. One America News, another staunchly pro-Trump cable network, has also come out against ownership deregulation.

It’s unclear, though, if Trump’s post will have any impact on the FCC’s ongoing reexamination of ownership caps. Regulations currently limit the audience reach of a single TV station group to no more than 39% of total U.S. television viewership.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr has repeatedly signaled his willingness to lift at least some of the ownership caps as a way to strengthen local broadcasters. He phrases his support as a means of limiting the power of national networks, which he says are biased, and strengthening local affiliates.

As part of that effort, the FCC recently launched a widespread probe into broadcast network-affiliate relations.

But Carr has gone out of his way to support and praise Trump in ways not seen for many decades at the supposedly independent regulatory agency. He has also been criticized by former FCC chairs and commissioners for investigating network affiliates who have provided critical coverage of President Trump or shows, such as “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” that Trump wants to see taken off the air.

The impact of the post is also difficult to interpret because Trump has repeatedly issued statements that either confuse the authority of the FCC or simplify regulatory issues in ways that are misleading.

Trump, for example, has repeatedly called on the FCC to yank the licenses for broadcast networks even though the FCC does not license broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox.

The FCC does have licensing authority over all broadcast stations, including network affiliates that carry network news and programming. Attempts to regulate the content of those newscasts are, however, highly controversial.

In addition the station groups owned by major companies like Disney, NBCUniversal and Fox are not close to the ownership limits and would not be immediately impacted by raising or dropping the 39% cap.

Currently the Fox station group is the largest in terms of the way the FCC measures coverage at 26%, followed by CBS (owned by Paramount) at 24%. Both ABC (Disney) and NBC (Comcast) have about 20%, according to BIA Advisory Services data posted by TVNewsCheck.

Failure to lift the caps could have an important impact on pending deals by several station groups, most notably Nexstar Media Group’s acquisition of Tegna, which would give it about 54% coverage.

In response to Trump's post, Nexstar issued a statement. “We continue to believe that the landscape is ripe for regulatory reform and that we are on the path to completing our transaction,“ the station group said. “We agree with President Trump that the status quo is no longer acceptable, nor should the government do anything to strengthen the stranglehold of legacy media and Big Tech on the marketplace of ideas. Those platforms already reach into every pocket, purse, and backpack in America, and the best way to disrupt their monopolistic power is to allow local broadcasters an opportunity to compete on a level playing field.

“Americans want more access to local news and a variety of voices without the filter of the coastal elites,” Nexstar continued. “By modernizing the FCC’s rules, regulators will ensure that local communities benefit from an array of fact-based local journalism—the anti-fake news—for years to come. This is an historic opportunity to change the status quo and deliver a win for Americans across the country who are weary of legacy media’s leverage over local broadcasters.”

After months of threats and speculation, the Trump administration has formally asked Congress to repeal $9.4 billion in previously approved funding, including $1.1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides funding to NPR and PBS.

That amounts to about two years of funding for CPB, which provides funding to PBS, NPR and public media, according to NPR.

The Trump administration has separately issued proposals for the fiscal year 2026 budget that would get rid of all CPB funding except for $30 million to shut down the agency.

The rescissions package was been proposed in April but was not sent formally to Congress until June 3. Now that the process has formally be initiated, Congress has 45 days to repeal the previously approved funding.

The proposal drew immediate fire from executives at CPB, America’s Public Television Stations and others.

“Federal funding for the public broadcasting system is irreplaceable,“ CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said. “Public media serves all—families and individuals, in rural and urban communities—free of charge and commercial-free. American taxpayers rely upon and trust public media for high-quality educational content, information and life-saving alerts.”

“CPB is firmly committed to ensuring that funding for public media provides local communities with accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news and information, and we take seriously concerns about bias that have been raised,” she added. “The path to better public media is achievable only if funding is maintained. Otherwise, a vital lifeline that operates reliable emergency communications, supports early learning, and keeps local communities connected and informed will be cut off with regrettable and lasting consequences.”

Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, said: “Americans in every corner of this country rely on our local public television stations to provide lifesaving public safety and educational services and local community connections for free, every day,. “These services are only made possible by the federal funding for public media. We urge Congress to reject this destructive proposal to eliminate public media funding and public media itself.

“This proposed elimination of CPB funding—the substantial majority of which goes to local stations—will result in immediate and serious cuts of stations’ local services and in some cases the total closure of stations, particularly in rural communities,” she added. “Rescinding previously appropriated federal funding for public broadcasting defies the will of the American people and would devastate the public safety, educational and local service missions of public media stations. These services are essential for the American people and worthy of the federal investment, which amounts to about $1.60 per person per year and less than one 1/100th of a percent of the federal budget.”

Whether you’re in the air or out for a swim, the last thing you do when you hit bone-rattling turbulence is slow down.

That was the state of mind at the 2025 NAB Show in the wake of the Trump administration’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariff announcement. “It’s on everybody’s minds,” said one vendor CEO, speaking on background to express the widely felt anxiety. “But our customers and suppliers are all telling us the same thing: they’re staying the course with their budgeted plans until they have reason to do otherwise.”

It was anybody’s guess how long that “steady-as-you-go” attitude would guide M&E sector activity. With the sudden imposition of a 90-day delay on those “reciprocal tariffs” announced on the show’s last day—followed by conflicting messages on tech tariffs the following weekend—the heads-down focus on the business at hand was up against the head-spinning threat of a turbulence-induced global economic stall-out ahead of any resolution of the tariff questions.

As it was, the dominant goal on people’s minds heading into the annual Las Vegas gathering, April 5-9, was to mitigate the intensifying turbulence unrelated to tariffs that was at least partially responsible for a 10% drop in attendance from 61,000 in 2024 to 55,000 this year. Whether by way of regulatory relief or the potential returns on cost-saving and revenue-generating technology advancements, the need for new ways forward dominated exhibit hall and meeting room discussions.

Problem-Solving Supersedes Pure Sales Agendas
For industry suppliers, it’s no longer just a matter of selling good technology; it’s about helping customers work through the business challenges, Glodina Lostanlen, chief revenue officer at Imagine Communications, noted. “The challenge is to find the returns.

“If you look at the FAST channels and the investments made in digital set-tops, our customers—all the big brand names—are telling us, ‘We invested a lot in digital and we’re not seeing the returns,’ ” she added. “At the same time, the linear business is under pressure because of the fragmentation. We really have to help them make the most of everything they have.”

Imagine is pursuing that agenda on both the playout and monetization sides of its product portfolio. One recently implemented case in point entails how the company tailored its SureFire ad server and linear TV decisioning platform to help New Zealand’s state-owned commercial broadcaster TVNZ derive higher ad revenues from digital programmatic advertising operations utilizing the Google Ad Manager (GAM) supply-side platform.

Using SureFire, TVNZ can book contextually relevant ads from its linear inventory to fill empty ad breaks in digital streams. “Our SureFire solution understands the context of the linear, and it brings the linear broadcast rules into the ad decisioning,” Lostanlen explained. “So the GAM will propose several ads, and there is some intelligence with background on what the linear program is to tell GAM to pick the best ad.”

Across NAB Show exhibit halls, the pall of uncertainty was countered by an eye-popping array of cost-saving and revenue-driving vendor solutions impacting every facet of the business, from creation and production to distribution and monetization. Breakthroughs abounded on every front, many enabled by generative and other permutations of AI, which, along with machine learning, have gone from the hype-and-wonder stage to being baked-in components permeating the M&E landscape.

AI Messaging Gives Way to Touting Cloud Solutions
Indeed, despite the pervasive presence of AI, it didn’t come close to getting as much attention as it did last year. What mattered to sellers was getting across to buyers the ways their solutions were facilitating broadcasters’ shift to and use of the cloud.

Zixi, for example, was focused on communicating the role it is playing in the cloud transition beyond supplying low-latency contribution transport. “This show is an inflection point for us,” Zixi CEO Mark Aldrich said. Citing partnerships with AWS, Amagi, Ateme, Videon, Magnifi.ai, Red5 and many other suppliers, he added, “We’re an accelerant to helping the industry move from satellite to IP in an elegant way.”

Innovations enabling scalable, reliable and secure live video delivery with 4K/HDR formatting at the lowest possible total cost of ownership have contributed to diminishing resistance to the cloud, Aldrich noted, as customers experience the benefits firsthand.

OTT Support Moves Center Stage
Telestream, too, pointed to broadcasters’ transition to IP as the industry trend with the greatest impact on product development. “We’re seeing a lot more processing in the cloud and distribution on ABR [adaptive bitrate used with OTT streaming],” said Matthew Driscoll, Telestream’s vice president of product management, in areas related to quality control in postproduction, distribution and monetization.

AI support, as heavily promoted by Tele­stream last year, is a given component across much of the company’s product portfolio but was barely mentioned in the firm’s NAB Show messaging this year. “AI is a big factor in automating our workflows,” Driscoll said, noting the generative AI applications complement the firm’s use of machine-learning tools over the last 15 years.

Of course, normalizing AI in workflows only means there’s much more to come. For example, what can be done with AI-enabled speech-to-text “is incredible,” Driscoll said. Stanza, Telestream’s captioning software solution, at present only supports the generation of English captions from speech spoken in other languages, but an expansion to translation across multiple languages is on the road map.

As for new developments unrelated to AI, Driscoll pointed to several advances impacting the firm’s PRISM waveform monitors, SPG9000 sync pulse and test signal generators and iQ Intelligent Video Management System, all of which are facilitating use of SMPTE 2110 and the transition to HDR in mainstream production. For example, the SPG9000 sync pulse support for 2110 and SDI in one box has been enhanced with added redundancy, supporting automatic switchover to secondary timing resources when a primary source like the Global Navigation Satellite System malfunctions.

Advances impacting PRISM include color banding that ensures conversions from HDR to SDR don’t end up with major chromatic distortions. The iQ enhancements involved expedited troubleshooting through the centralized ARGUS live A/V, captioning and SCTE 35 ad-marker monitoring system.

Real-Time Multilingual Captioning
Many solutions in the multilingual captioning domain—much of it enabled by AI—were on display at the show. They included significant advances brought to light by ENCO, which exhibited a product line impacting automated broadcast and production workflows involving automated live translation, virtual production, audio compliance, playout, cloud-based web streaming and more.

“We’re lucky to have been playing in a lot of different markets since our inception, which gives us the ability to see how different markets capitalize on the same technologies,” ENCO Product Design and Solutions Manager Bill Bennett said. “For example, we’re able to see how generative AI used in writing advertising copy can be used to convert text to synthetic speech.”

Having introduced on-premises language translation from English to Spanish text last year, at this year’s NAB Show ENCO extended its enTranslate platform’s capabilities to support translating dozens of languages in real time, on-prem or in the cloud. The company also demonstrated a new version of its enTranslate mobile app, letting visitors who scanned QR codes on display in multiple locations view text translations of the on-stage commentary in seven different languages.

Now, ENCO is applying its R&D skills to turning those translations into audio output in real time, Bennett said. “We’re using the same processing-intensive GPU hardware acceleration we’re employing to perform the text translations for the AI re-speaking conversion to audio,” he noted.

NextGen TV Developments
Discussion among broadcasters rolling out ATSC 3.0 was dominated by current moves to get the Federal Communications Commission to set a date certain to sunset 1.0 by the end of the decade. The momentum towards this goal was best illustrated less than a week after the show ended, when the FCC issued a request for public comment on a 1.0 sunset proposal submitted by NAB earlier this year.

The Advanced Television Systems Committee booth in the West Hall had a more international theme after last year’s announcement that Brazil had adopted the physical layer standard of 3.0, ATSC President Madeleine Noland said.

“Our booth was a hub of energy and excitement, boasting a 30% increase in visitors over last year and showcasing the broad and growing support for ATSC 3.0,” she told members in her post-show memo. “It was also notable that Brazilians attended the show in force, as the second-most represented country at the show after the U.S. With the initial launch of DTV+, largely based on ATSC 3.0, scheduled soon for Rio [de Janeiro], excitement about the possibilities in Brazil continues to expand.”

In addition to new consumer products on display at the ATSC booth, tech demos revolved around advanced features including immersive TV and an increased emphasis on gaming.

Executives from the nation’s largest station groups also discussed the details behind the launch of EdgeBeam, a new 3.0 datacasting service, while technical discussions about using 3.0 signals as a backup to GPS (aka Broadcasting Positioning System, or “BPS”) took place during the four-day Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference.

As broadcasters move live production to the cloud, they’re discovering new ways to use streaming technology to address cost and monetization challenges. One groundbreaking development with major implications for maximizing streaming flexibility was quietly displayed by Dolby, one of many vendors offering ultra-low latency streaming solutions at NAB Show.

For the first time anywhere, Dolby was demonstrating how it is now possible through its OptiView platform to implement streaming at whatever level of latency and directional flexibility is required for any given live distribution scenario through point-and-click commands on a management dashboard.

“Dolby OptiView is a fully managed service that supports interactive streaming over WebRTC at sub-half-second latencies, High Efficiency Streaming Protocol (HESP) at 1 to 2 seconds or conventional HLS platforms at higher latencies,” Dolby Senior Product Marketing Manager Rose Power said.

In all cases, streams are managed through the OptiView Player software, which uses APIs that work with any browser or client software used by the chosen transport protocol. The managed service assigns streaming operations to the appropriate CDN infrastructure, including an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure network optimized for WebRTC and HTTP-based CDNs for HESP and HLS. Power said OptiView users can activate Dolby’s Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) technology to enable targeted full- or partial-screen ad placements in line with performance parameters of the chosen streaming technology.

Clearly, judging by everything on display at this year’s NAB Show, broadcasters entering the NextGen TV era have all they need to leave the limitations of the old OTA environment behind, with one exception: They need to see uncertainty giving way to coherency in U.S. trade policy.

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is considering a rescission package of $9 billion in cuts to previously approved government spending that includes $1.1 billion of funding cuts for public media.

That amounts to about two years of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to PBS, NPR and public media, according to NPR.

The proposal, which has been widely reported but not formally been announced as of 2 p.m. ET on April 15, would have to be approved by Congress within 45 days after it is formally proposed. If Congress does not act in that time, the previously approved funding will not be cut.

The idea was blasted by Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, who said “rescinding previously appropriated federal funding for public broadcasting defies the will of the American people and would devastate the public safety, educational and local service missions of public media stations — services that the American public values, trusts and relies on every day.”

The New York Times and NPR reported that the Trump administration is considering what is known as a rescission proposal that could claw back money already approved by Congress. The total amount of $9 billion in the proposal includes cuts being made by Elon Musk’s DOGE and cuts in funding agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that the White House wants to eliminate.

Once the proposal is formalized, Congress would have 45 days to approve the cuts in the previously approved spending. The cuts to funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcast, which provides funds to public media organizations, would have a devastating impact on public media.

The New York Times reported that the claw-back would not include about $100 million for emergency services and alerts.

“A rescission of funds threatens the very existence of the nation’s local public broadcasting stations and the entire public broadcasting system,” APTV’s Riley said. “This includes the over 160 locally operated and controlled public television stations that serve communities small and large throughout this country. From the most remote corners of Alaska to the hollers of Appalachia, public broadcasting is a lifeline in hundreds of communities where there is no other source of local media.

“Eliminating federal funding for public media would leave many Americans, especially those in rural communities and states, without the critical services local public television stations provide from proven education resources to essential local connections,” she added. “Eliminating federal funding for public media would significantly jeopardize public safety across the country.”

She also stressed that “public media has earned the broad support of the American people, across the political spectrum, including 65% of people who voted for President Trump who think public television is either adequately funded or underfunded, according to a recent YouGov survey. And just last month, the Pew Research Center found that Americans are more likely to support than oppose continuing federal funding for NPR and PBS by a factor of almost 2:1. That bipartisan support in the public has been consistently reflected in Congress, which approved additional funding for public media just a few weeks ago in the FY2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act.”

The funding cut was also criticized by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

“The White House’s attempt to gut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is an outrageous and reckless attack on one of our most trusted civic institutions,” Markey said. “The CPB supports a public media system that keeps communities informed, educates our children, and reflects the full breadth of America. This rescission package threatens that mission — and would harm the millions of Americans, especially in rural and underserved communities, who rely on public television and radio as their only source of news, culture, and educational programming.

“From ‘PBS NewsHour’ to ‘Sesame Street,’ public television has set the gold standard for programming that empowers viewers, particularly young minds," Markey continued. "Cutting off this lifeline is not budget discipline, it’s cultural sabotage. I will fight to ensure that the Trump administration doesn’t pull the plug on this essential public good.”

More reactions will be added as they come in.

As tech billionaire Elon Musk takes an increasingly high-profile policy role in the incoming Trump administration, a former Federal Communications Commission chair in the George H.W. Bush administration has penned an opinion piece expressing “concern” that the “world’s richest man” is acting as “the president’s voice” on key issues.

In a piece called “Who’s Is President?” Alfred Sikes urged President-elect Donald Trump to “regain control.”

After commenting on the current budgetary crisis, which could result in a government shutdown on Dec. 21, Sikes noted that “within a very short time Elon Musk, America’s richest man and buddy of the president-elect, put his thumb down,” derailing a bipartisan spending plan. “It is said he posted his disapproval on his website 70 times. Ten hours later so did Donald Trump. Not a good look.”

“I don’t apologize for…my concern about the world’s richest man placing himself in a position of at least appearing to be not the President’s whisperer but the President’s voice,” Sikes concluded. “It is not only on the atmospherics a bad thing, it portends a clash of egos that cannot do other than undermine the Presidency. Regain control Mr. President-Elect.”

The opinion piece war first reported on by Policyband.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Kari Lake to run the Voice of America. Lake had been a popular news anchor for KSAZ-TV Phoenix prior to losing elections for governor of Arizona in 2022 and a U.S. Senate seat in 2024.

A staunch Trump ally, she stirred controversy as an election denier who spread erroneous information about the results of the 2020 and 2022 elections.

“I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America. She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon, to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media. Kari was a beloved News Anchor in Arizona, which supported me by record margins, for over 20 years,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Voice of America (VOA) is the largest U.S. international broadcaster, providing news and information in nearly 50 languages to an estimated weekly audience of more than 354 million people, according to its website.

VOA produces content for digital, mobile, television, and radio platforms. It is also distributed by satellite, cable, FM and MW, and is carried on a network of more than 3,500 affiliate stations.

VoA is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the government agency that oversees all nonmilitary U.S. international broadcasting. It is funded by the U.S. Congress. The head of USAGM must be approved by the U.S. Senate. The director of the VOA is appointed by a vote of the seven-member advisory board.

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr—President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for the regulator’s chair in the new administration—is signaling that the agency may consider a complaint against CBS’s 60 Minutes for news bias as part of the FCC’s review of the proposed Skydance-Paramount Global deal.

While the deal has not prompted much regulatory scrutiny, the FCC would have to approve the transfer of CBS-owned stations as part of its review of the deal in which Skydance would acquire Paramount, the broadcast network’s parent company.

Trump has complained repeatedly about the way CBS edited an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and has filed a lawsuit against the network.

Carr has also repeated those complaints and asked CBS to release a transcript.

“There's also a news distortion complaint at the FCC still, having to do with CBS, and CBS as a transaction before the FCC,” Carr said in an interview with Fox News Channel. “And I’m pretty confident that that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that's likely to arise in the context of the FCC’s review of that transaction.”

During the interview Carr argued, “Jeff Bezos just recently did an op-ed where he said that Americans don’t trust the news media. He said now they’re the least trusted of all. And I think he's speaking a lot of truth there. So I think the status quo, particularly when it comes to legacy media, needs to change.”

With regard to broadcasters, Carr said: “There’s a lot the FCC can do. Broadcasters are differently situated than other speakers. They get free access to a valuable public resource, the airwaves. And they’re licensed by the FCC. And the exchange for that is they have to serve the public interest. I think it's important that we take another look at that and we reinvigorate it."

Carr also posted on X that he would be seriously examining the public interest obligations of broadcasters, The Daily Beast has reported.

“Broadcast media have had the privilege of using a scarce and valuable public resource—our airwaves,“ Carr said in the post. ”In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest. When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation."

Carr has repeatedly said he has no intention of censoring news operations or restricting free speech, but critics have said the recent comments could provide a pretext for using perceived bias in news coverage of the Trump administration during the broadcast-license renewals.

WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Brendan Carr as the next chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Trump first placed Carr on the FCC during his first term, in 2017.

Unlike some of his most recent nominations, Trump’s naming of Carr to lead the FCC starting in January follows a fairly traditional norm of tapping a prominent commissioner of the incoming party to the post, as was done in 2017 when then-commissioner Ajit Pai took the helm, and in 2021 when President Joe Biden selected current chair Jessica Rosenworcel.

Carr has a history of traditional Republican approaches to telecommunications, supporting deregulation and the protection of conservative voices in media. He penned the chapter in Project 2025, a wide-ranging document from the Heritage Foundation and what some believe to be the blueprint for the second Trump administration. In the chapter, he advocated for the administration to have tighter control over big tech and what he views as a widespread “cancel culture,” particularly in social media.

“The censorship cartel must be dismantled,” Mr. Carr posted on X (formerly Twitter), right after the election.

"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 his nominating statement on Sunday. “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.”

Carr also supports banning TikTok in the U.S. “I just don't see a path forward where we can allow this app to continue to operate in its current form,” he told NPR in 2022.

In Carr, broadcasters see an advocate for deregulation, particularly when it comes to ownership issues. During the current term, the fight over the proposed merger of Tegna with Standard General became a symbol of the tension between Democrats—which currently hold the majority on the commission—and Republicans. Rosenworcel in particular voiced her opposition to the deal over concerns about its potential impact on media diversity, competition and consumer costs.

When the commission approved a move to appoint an administrative law judge to oversee certain parts of the controversial deal, Carr made a point of the decline in journalism, particularly at the local level and said the merger would help broadcasters better compete in a media environment increasingly dominated by big tech.

“At this moment, the FCC should be working to encourage more of the investment necessary for these local broadcasters to innovate and thrive,” Carr said at the time. “It does the opposite today. After a protracted, nearly yearlong review, the commission should be providing the parties with a decision on the merits—not an uncertain future.”

Post election, Perry Sook, CEO of Nexstar Media Grpoup, the largest TV station group in the U.S., expressed optimism towards a new administration and called for less regulation and continued advocacy of the broadcast industry’s transition to ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV).

“Progress on deregulation has been a catalyst for multiple expansion in the past,” Sook told investors. “So we plan to move with a sense of urgency on this as well as push for the formal adoption of ATSC 3.0 as our industry's transmission standard. That is our and our trade association’s No. 2 priority with this new administration.”

Unlike the current chair, Carr appears to be more vocally supportive of broadcasters’ transition to NextGen TV. Speaking at the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s annual meeting in Washington last June, Carr advocated a market-based, lightly regulated approach, much like what the cellular industry took when moving to 5G. He did, however raise eyebrows when he addressed an issue that keeps some broadcasters up at night—the risk to valuable spectrum. That risk could be exacerbated by the inability to make a date certain to shut down ATSC 1.0, but sunsetting 1.0 in combination with advocating for a friendlier consolidation market could help broadcasters better compete, Carr said.

“The transition that we see in technologies from a wireless approach is one that we should take here,” Carr said, referring to 3.0. “We largely trust the mobile wireless industry to handle those upgrades in technology … you’re getting the playbook here.

“We have to get to a point of a level regulatory playing field and increased investment,” Carr added. “In broadcasting, we have to allow this flash cut to 3.0 by a date certain and forthrightly and we also need to really consider competition in D.C. around potentially an ‘incentive auction 2.0’ as well.”

The National Association of Broadcaters on Sunday issued its congratulations to Carr’s nomination, saying: “Commissioner Carr has been a steadfast leader in holding Big Tech accountable and supporting policies that will allow local broadcast stations to better compete with these behemoths and thrive. We are excited to continue our work with the chairman-designate to level the playing field and remove regulatory barriers that impede investment in local broadcast newsrooms. Together we will ensure local television and radio stations can innovate and continue to serve communities across the country.”

Not everyone was so complimentary, though. Craig Aaron, co-CEO of advocacy group Free Press Action, warned that Carr’s nomination will endanger free speech and the FCC’s charter of promoting public discourse.

“Brendan Carr has been campaigning for this job with promises to do the bidding of Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Aaron said. “Carr doesn’t care about protecting the public interest; he got this job because he will carry out Trump and Musk’s personal vendettas. While styling himself as a free-speech champion, Carr refused to stand up when Trump threatened to take away the broadcast licenses of TV stations for daring to fact-check him during the campaign. This alone should be disqualifying.

“The public needs a watchdog looking out for them at this independent agency, not an attack dog for Trump and Musk. Carr’s agenda includes giving away billions in taxpayer dollars to favored corporations like Musk’s Starlink satellite business. He supports media mergers and will give Trump’s cronies control of even more TV and radio stations. He’s committed to ending Net Neutrality and undermining the FCC’s ability to hold accountable companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon for abusing internet users.

“Carr is the only sitting government official who co-authored a chapter in the extremist Project 2025 policy road map that will apparently guide this administration,” Aaron continued. “His close relationships with far-right zealots and his craven cozying up to the CEOs he’s supposed to be regulating tell you everything about the kind of FCC chairman he will be. For more than a year now, Carr has been auditioning for this job, desperate to gain Trump’s attention and show how he’s willing to bend the rules and twist the law to serve this administration. His groveling is now being rewarded with a promotion, and it’s the American public who will pay a heavy price.”

WASHINGTON—Federal Communications Commission Republican Brendan Carr has issued a statement congratulating President-elect Donald Trump “on his historical election victory” and urging the agency to stop work on what he deemed to be “any partisan or controversial matter and focus on the transition.”

Carr, who wrote a chapter on communications policy for Project 2025 that aimed to lay out the policy goals for the upcoming administration, is widely believed to have an inside track to being named chair under Trump.

Carr has also weighed in on Trump’s side in recent controversies over how ABC handled its presidential debate and how CBS edited an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate defeated by Trump. In recent statements dissenting with current FCC policies, he has also been careful to phrase them as attacks on the wider policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

In his call for the FCC to stop work on “controversial” actions and focus on the transition, Carr is echoing a letter sent by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel that said “The results of the 2024 presidential election are now apparent and leadership of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will soon change. As a traditional part of the peaceful transfer of power, the FCC should immediately stop work on any partisan or controversial item under consideration, consistent with applicable law and regulation. There are many bipartisan, consensus items that the FCC could pursue to fulfill its mission before the end of your tenure. I urge you to focus your attention on these matters.”

In congratulating Trump, Carr also hinted a some of the policies he would focus on if named chair of the FCC, including reining in big tech and ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest.

Carr, who called for new spectrum auctions in June of 2024, also highlighted how the FCC should focus on policies “unleashing economic growth while advancing our national security interests and supporting law enforcement.”

The full statement reads as follows:

“I want to congratulate President Trump on his historic election victory. The American people have sent a clear and decisive message to Washington. It is time to change course. That is why I agree with congressional leadership that the FCC should immediately stop work on any partisan or controversial matter and focus on the transition.

“When the transition is complete, the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth while advancing our national security interests and supporting law enforcement. The FCC can and must deliver results for the American people.”

Several media associations offered their congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump and members of Congress on Wednesday, following the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign.

“NAB congratulates President-elect Trump and the new and returning members of Congress,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “Local television and radio stations are committed to working with the next administration on policies that will enable increased investment in local journalism, emergency information, sports and entertainment on which our communities rely.

“NAB will continue its bipartisan work with policymakers to strengthen this free, local service that is essential to our democracy.”

Trump was highly critical of the mainstream broadcast networks during the campaign, calling for ABC News anchor David Muir to be fired over his moderation of the Sept. 10 presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. He also recently filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS, objecting to how the network edited its interview with Harris on “60 Minutes” in October.

Hollywood also tendered its best wishes to the new President-elect.

“The Motion Picture Association congratulates President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming 119th Congress on their electoral victories,” the MPA said in its statement. “We look forward to working with them on a wide range of important issues for the film, TV, and streaming industry, which supports more than 2.7 million American jobs, boosts more than 240,000 businesses in cities and small towns across the country, and delivers over $242 billion in wages to our workforce each year. We commend everyone who worked this year to ensure fair elections and preserve our nation’s legitimate democratic processes.”

For the past several months, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has heavily criticized U.S. broadcasters, claiming biased coverage that favors Democrats and even threatening to revoke broadcasters' licenses if he is elected next week.

Despite pushback from FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel—who responded to former President Trump, stating “the FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage”—one former FCC chief warns that such determination may not be enough to prevent damage to the commission.

The FCC is considered an “independent” regulatory agency and, as such, is less subject to a president’s individual whims. However, in a blog post on Brookings.edu, Tom Wheeler, who served as agency chairman during the second Obama administration from 2013-2017, said that if Trump follows through on a campaign promise to bring such independent regulatory agencies under presidential authority, he could assume sole power over the commission under the guise of a national emergency.

Section 706 (codified as 47 USC 606), titled “War Emergency—Powers of the President,” in the Communications Act of 1934 that created the FCC, reads:

“(c) Upon proclamation by the President that there exists war or a threat of war, or a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency … the President, if he deems it necessary in the interest of national security or defense, may suspend or amend, for such time as he may see fit, the rules and regulations applicable to any or all stations or devices capable of emitting electromagnetic radiations within the jurisdiction of the United States as prescribed by the Commission, and may cause the closing of any station for radio communication.”

Wheeler also warned that another part of the section refers to wired networks and could potentially apply to the internet. Since the Communications Act does not define what constitutes a “national emergency,” Wheeler said that based on past history, Trump would cut a wide swath with such privileges, adding that when he was president, Trump claimed total authority, once saying “I have Article II [of the Constitution], where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”

“The terms ‘war or a threat of war, or a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency’ are not defined by the Communications Act,” Wheeler wrote. “Such declarations of national emergency were, however, a go-to solution when Donald Trump was in office.”

Wheeler called on Congress to step in.

“The institution that created these broad powers, the Congress, has an important role as overseer of the authority they have delegated to the executive,” he wrote. “Congress constantly holds oversight hearings on the agencies of the executive branch; hearings on the unilateral powers granted to the president are warranted. The threshold question for such hearings should be whether there are sufficient guardrails in place to protect against their abuse, and what such protections should look like.

“Regardless of who wins the election—Congress should review whether the unilateral powers granted to the president in the 20th century need updating for the 21st century,” Wheeler said.

In response to a comment on his social media platform X, Elon Musk has called the idea of auctioning off broadcast spectrum to pay down the national debt a “great idea.”

Musk could have an influential role in government regulation if Donald Trump is elected. Trump has promised to put Musk, the billionaire who has become a major campaign donor, in charge of a “government efficiency commission” that would make recommendations for cutting spending and changes in government rules.

Musk has also clashed with the FCC in the past over its denial of subsidies to his Starlink broadband service and could profit from changes in those policies.

Musk made the comments in response to a post from venture capitalist David Sachs, who wrote: The major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) operate on free licenses of public spectrum in exchange for requirements to serve the public interest. They no longer do, and this is an obsolete model anyway. The spectrum should be auctioned off, with the proceeds used to pay down the national debt. Of course, the networks can bid on the spectrum, and they will win if broadcast networks are still the most highly valued use. What’s more likely to happen is that valuable spectrum will be reapportioned to the next generation of wireless applications, unleashing many more interesting options for consumers and businesses. The networks can continue to operate on cable, like hundreds of other redundant channels.”

The posts were first reported by Policyband.

CBS has responded to attacks against what critics have labeled the network’s “news distortion” in editing its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.

Critics—led by former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president—contend that the Oct. 14 interview was “deceptively edited” and have called for a release of the transcript. Trump himself called on the FCC to revoke CBS’s broadcast license on his Truth Social social-media platform last week:

“ ‘60 Minutes’ is a major part of the News Organization of CBS, which has just created th Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History,” Trump wrote. “CBS should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS — and maybe even WORSE!”

That prompted this response from CBS:

“Former President Donald Trump is accusing ‘60 Minutes’ of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false.

“‘60 Minutes’ gave an excerpt of our interview to ‘Face the Nation’ that used a longer section of her answer than that on ‘60 Minutes.’ Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on ‘60 Minutes’ was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide-ranging, 21-minute-long segment.

“Remember, Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with ‘60 Minutes’ and the vice president participated.

“Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open. If he would like to discuss the issues facing the nation and the Harris interview, we would be happy to have him on ‘60 Minutes.’”

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel also responded to Trump’s criticism, saying the regulator “does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage. While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored. As I’ve said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy.”

This is the third time Rosenworcel has responded to threats against broadcasters during the 2024 campaign season. In September, in response to Trump’s call for ABC to lose its broadcast license over Trump’s accusations that the network’s broadcast of his Sept. 10 debate with Harris was “rigged,” Rosenworcel said, “the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy,” adding, “the FCC does not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”

Rosenworcel also had to step in after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration sent a “cease and desist” letter to TV stations in the state that aired campaign ads supporting an amendment that would enshrine the right to an abortion in Florida, calling the ads both “false” and “dangerous.”

“The right of broadcasters to speak freely is rooted in the First Amendment,” Rosenworcel said. “Threats against broadcast stations for airing content that conflicts with the government’s views are dangerous and undermine the fundamental principle of free speech.”

NEW YORK—The ABC News Presidential Debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump drew an estimated audience of 67.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The debate aired live on 17 television networks reported by Nielsen

The 67.1 million viewers was significantly greater than “CNN Presidential Debate” (51.266 million) in June between President Biden and Trump, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. 

Reported networks include: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Merit Street, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET, CNN, CNNe, FOX News Channel, FOX Business, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation, PBS.

About 26.4 million viewers tuned into Disney and ABC’s linear and streaming platforms making the debate ABC’s most-viewed multiplatform program of the year      

With 19 million total viewers on ABC, the debate the most-watched debate on any network in 16 years. 

ABC News live on streaming and digital platforms, including Hulu, Disney+ and ABC Owned Television Stations, had 7.4 million viewers in early reporting, boosting the total multiplatform audiences to 26.4 million. The debate was also most-viewed live event by hours streamed on Disney+ in the U.S. to Date.

The debate ranked No. 1 in total viewers and adults 25-54 in each of ABC’s top 6 owned TV stations.

In terms of total viewing across all networks, the audience skewed older, with 41.3 million over the age the age of 55. Nielsen reported the following: 

• Persons 2+ (67,135,000, 21.2 rating)
• Households (45,571,000, 36.2 rating)
• Persons 18-34  (6,470,000, 9.0 rating)
• Persons 35-54  (16,880,000, 20.6 rating)
• Persons 55+ (41,349,000, 41.0 rating)

In terms of individual breakdowns by networks, Fox reported these final Nielsen figures, with Fox News being the top cable network and ABC toping the broadcasters: 

• Fox New Channel: 9,062,000 People 2+; 1,942,000 Adults 25-54
• Fox: 4,845,000 P2+; 1,901,000 A25-54
• FBN: 295,000 P2+; 62,000 A25-54
• CNN: 4,389,000 P2+; 1,575,000 A25-54
• MSNBC: 6,381,000 P2+; 1,236,000 A25-54
• ABC: 19,049,000 P2+; 6,596,000 A25-54
• NBC: 10,075,000 P2+; 3,744,000 A25-54
• CBS: 6,189 ,000 P2+; 1,904,000 A25-54

Samba TV is reporting that 28.3 million homes watched the Presidential Debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10. That makes the faceoff between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris the most the most-watched TV event of the year so far, besides the Super Bowl, according Samba TV.

This also marked a 12% increase from the June 27 debate between Donald Trump and then-candidate President Joe Biden, which was seen in 25.2 million homes. Of note is the fact that 53% of the audience that watched Tuesday's debate skipped the June Biden/Trump debate, showing a renewed interest in the race since Joe Biden dropped out. 

Older households comprised a large share of viewership for the Tuesday debate, as millennial and Gen-z audiences under-indexed, Samba TV said. 

Ashwin Navin, Samba TV co-founder and CEO noted that “Contrary to expectations of voter fatigue and anemic viewership, last night’s debate was well consumed online and on linear and streaming platforms, offering both candidates a valuable opportunity to address the nation in this tightly contested election."

As always,  different measurement firms are likely to provide different data depending on their methodologies. 

AdImpact reported that the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris had an average viewership across all networks of 71.3 million, rising to a peak of 78 million at 10:02PM ET, before gradually tapering off. 

Fox reported these audience numbers from Nielsen data for the 9 p.m. ET to 10:45 p.m. ET time slot: 

• Fox News Channel: 9,062,000 People 2+; 1,942,000 Adults 25-54
• FOX: 4,845,000 P2+; 1,901,000 A25-54
• FBN: 295,000 P2+; 62,000 A25-54
• CNN: 4,389,000 P2+; 1,575,000 A25-54
• MSNBC: 6,381,000 P2+; 1,236,000 A25-54
• ABC: 19,049,000 P2+; 6,596,000 A25-54
• NBC: 10,075,000 P2+; 3,744,000 A25-54
• CBS: 6,189 ,000 P2+; 1,904,000 A25-54

Other key data points from Samba TV about the debate include: 

• Among the swing states, viewership trends across the two debates were similar. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin saw slight over-indexes in viewership compared to the U.S. as a whole (between 9%-11% each), while households in Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada were less likely than the average U.S. household to watch. Household viewership in Arizona was on par with the rest of the U.S.
• Households that watched the Harris/Trump debate, but skipped the Biden/Trump debate, shed light into the undecided voter as they were not interested in tuning in when Biden was on the ballot but now have interest in following the race with the addition of Harris. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin over-indexed among this group, while Georgia, North Carolina, and Arizona under-indexed. Nevada was similarly likely as the average U.S. household to be part of this group.
• Older households comprised a high proportion of debate #2 viewers, over-indexing on viewership while younger audiences under-indexed. The strongest over indexes were among households A65-74 (+11%) and 75+ (+17%), while millennial and Gen Z households under-indexed, according to Samba TV.

NEW YORK—An estimated 28.9 million viewed all or part of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech during on Thursday, the final night of the Democratic National Convention, according to Nielsen, a half million more than viewed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s acceptance speech in July.

A total 26.2 million viewers watched the fourth and final night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which aired 9-11:30 p.m. ET across 15 television networks reported by Nielsen, with varied coverage televised on each. Harris’s speech aired from approximately 10:31 p.m. to 11:11 p.m. ET.

On Wednesday, the third night of the convention—which featured Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz’s acceptance speech on Wednesday as well as former President Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey—total viewership averaged 20.2 million, according to Nielsen, 3 million more than for the third night of the Republican gathering.

Further data broken down by Samba TV showed that those 28.9 million viewers comprised 13.9 million U.S. households, 31% more than the 10.6 million U.S. households who watched Trump’s RNC speech.

In key swing states, 8% more viewers in Michigan and 5% more in Nevada watched Harris’s speech, while fewer than the average number of households in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin watched. For black households, 12% more households viewed Harris’s speech than Trump’s, according to Samba TV.

Networks measured included ABC, CBS, NBC, Scripps News, CNN, CNNe, Fox Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.

NEW YORK—Nielsen is reporting that nearly 51.3 million people watched CNN’s presentation of the first presidential debate of the 2024 election season on Thursday, June 27.  

The CNN Presidential Debate between President Biden and former President Trump aired live on CNN and was simulcast on an additional 16 television networks reported by Nielsen. 

By age, Nielsen reported that 51,265,000 people aged 2 and older watched the debate and 34,531,000 households. Results for other demos included persons 18-34 (4,502,000 viewers), persons 35-54 (10,918,000) and persons 55+ (34,162,000). 

Reported networks include: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Scripps News, Telemundo, Univision, BET, CNN, CNNe, HLN, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation, PBS.

CNN reported that on television, "CNN drew the highest single audience with 9.53 million viewers on its flagship channel, including 3.379 million in the advertiser coveted 25-54 demographic". Fox News drew 9.276 million viewers, ABC News saw 9.21 million viewers and MSNBC drew 4.122 million viewers, according to CNN. 

CNN.com also noted that "while the debate drew the largest television audience of the year, it represents over a 30% drop in audience from 2020, when more than 73 million people watched the first debate between Trump and Biden across all television networks. In 2016, a record 84 million tuned in to the first debate matchup between Hillary Clinton and Trump.

President Joe Biden and Former President Donald Trump have agreed to participate in two televised debates, the first of which will be hosted by CNN on June 17. 

ABC will host the second on Sept. 10, which will be available on ABC, the ABC News Live streaming network and Hulu. It also said that it will make its debate available to simulcast on additional broadcast and streaming news networks in America.  

The CNN debate will occur usually early, before both of the parties hold their official National conventions. 

CNN will host the debate from its Atlanta studios in the crucial battleground state of Georgia. CNN said that the debate will air on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Max and CNN.com. 

To ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate, no audience will be present at the CNN debate. Moderators for the debate and additional details will be announced at a later date.  

ABC News reported that information on moderators, format and additional details will be provided at a later date.

Both CNN and ABC said that to be eligible for participation the candidate must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency prior to the eligibility deadline; agree to accept the rules and format of the debate; and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet their standards for reporting.

Those conditions would currently make all the third party candidates ineligible. 

INDIANAPOLIS—The Society of Professional Journalists has joined a growing chorus of media companies asking the D.C. federal court holding the trial in which former president Donald Trump is charged with attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, to allow cameras during the trial. 

The SPJ, along with 19 other media organizations has filed an application to the federal court for auidiovisual access to the trial proceedings and also sent a letter to the Judicial Conference this week seeking amendment to the rules prohibiting cameras in the courtroom.

“This is a historical story that impacts the very fiber of our Democracy,” said SPJ National President Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins. “The public has a right to know how this case unfolds in real time. The only way to ensure this is to allow cameras in the courtroom during the trial.”

Although 49 states and the District of Columbia currently either permit journalists to capture proceedings on their own cameras, authorize courts to provide video or audio webcasts of proceedings, or both, in state courts, cameras have traditionally been barred from federal judicial proceedings.

In its request, the SPJ cites massive public interest in the election interference issue, as well as the increased amount of misinformation on social media, as factors that should prompt the court to allow the public to view the trial.

“This case is of interest to all American voters still struggling to make sense of the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath, and who have an opportunity to vote for or against Trump should he become his party’s nominee in the 2024 presidential elections,” said the letter to Judicial Conference Secretary Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf. 

With cameras and cellphones banned from the Miami courthouse where former President Donald Trump was arraigned on 37 charges from the Dept. of Justice Tuesday, CNN formulated an elaborate plan to beat its competition in gathering news updates in real time.

The network hired a group of local Miami-area high school students to work as production assistants for the day. The students attended the hearing on Tuesday afternoon in an overflow room with CNN reporters, who made notes and then handed the notes to a student who then rushed to one of the courthouse’s only two payphones to pass the updates along to the network. 

However, because the payphones were only configured to call local phone numbers, CNN had the student dial their personal cellphone located in the network’s mobile operations in an RV, where it was answered by a CNN news director who would then transcribe the notes and pass it along to the network HQ for air. 

Their efforts allowed CNN to scoop other news outlets by reporting when the former President was in custody and entered a not guilty plea.  

“In all my years of field producing, never have I been involved in an operation as complex as this literal game of professional telephone,” Gray said after the hearing concluded.

NEW YORK—CNN’s controversial Republican Presidential Town Hall on May 10 with former president Donald Trump ranked #1 in cable news and #2 in all of cable behind the NBA Playoffs on TNT in both total viewers and adults 25-54, according to Nielsen figures supplied by CNN.  

The Town Hall in New Hampshire averaged 3.308 million total viewers compared to 1.446 million in the town hall time slot for Fox News and 1.398 for MSNBC. 

Among adults 25-54, CNN beat all cable news competitors with 781k, 458% more than Fox News’ 140k and a 388% advantage over MSNBC’s 160k.

Among adults aged 25 to 54, Wednesday’s event was CNN’s #1 single-candidate town hall since 2016 among adults 25-54 but was behind CNN’s 2020 Joe Biden Town Hall on September 17, 2020 among total viewers with 3.465 million, according to data from CNN.

Audience data from Fox News press department indicated that the May 10 CNN town hall audiences were lower than than five Fox News Channel Town Halls with former President Trump which delivered 5.1 million P2+ on June 25, 2020, 4.4 million P2+ on March 24, 2020, 4.2 million P2+ on March 5, 2020, 3.8 million P2+ on May 3, 2020 and 3.5 million P2+ million on June 30, 2021. 

On CNN’s Digital platforms, CNN’s Republican Presidential Town Hall with Former President Donald Trump streamed live, without requiring a cable log-in, on CNN.com’s homepage and across mobile devices via CNN’s apps for iOS and Android from 8 pm to 9:30 pm ET. It peaked with 149k concurrent viewers at 9:09 pm, the largest concurrent digital livestream audience for a CNN Election Town Hall since at least the 2020 cycle. The livestream generated nearly 1 million live video starts, CNN reported. 

Combining TV plus digital live streaming produced a combined average audience of 3.408 million total viewers. Digital viewing added a 3.0% lift to CNN’s TV P2+ average audience for the town hall, ranking 9th among all town halls on record. CNN coverage (8 pm to 9:09 pm ET) saw an average audience of 100k users live streaming the average minute of coverage (equivalent to the way TV ratings are calculated).

CNN also ranked #1 in prime time (8-11pm) on Wednesday among both total viewers and adults 25-54. Among total viewers, CNN had 2.293 million, +57% more than MSNBC’s 1.458 million and +36% more than Fox News’s 1.683 million. This marked CNN’s best performance in prime time since the 2022 Midterm Elections among total viewers on November 8 2022 with 2.608 million. 

Among adults 25-54, CNN averaged 510k, Fox News placed second with 189k and MSNBC was third with 157k. 

The event was significantly ahead of Trump’s last town hall appearance on CNN in 2016 in April 12, 2016, delivering +53% more total viewers (3.308 million vs. 2.168 million) and +35% more in the demo (781k vs. 579k), CNN reported.

LOS ANGELES—To quote Taylor Swift, SAG-AFRTA and Donald Trump are never ever getting back together. The SAG-AFTRA National Board passed a resolution on Feb. 6 that will deny Trump from potential re-admission into the union following his resignation.

Following the events of the Capitol insurrection and riots on Jan. 6, SAG-AFTRA cited then-President Trump for his actions promoting false election claims, attacks against the media (some of whom are SAG-AFTRA members) and allegedly inciting the rioters. They were planning to conduct a disciplinary hearing that could have resulted in penalties against Trump, including possible expulsion from the union.

Trump pre-empted any action by SAG-AFTRA, announcing his resignation on Feb. 4; to which the union simply said, “Thank you.”

The union went one step further, however, with this decision to bar Trump from potentially rejoining SAG-AFTRA in the future.

“Preventing Donald Trump from every rejoining SAG-AFTRA is more than a symbolic step,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. “It is a resounding statement that threatening or inciting harm against fellow members will not be tolerated. An attack against one is an attack against all.”

LOS ANGELES—Donald Trump, after having discipline charges filed against him by SAG-AFTRA for his role in the Capitol riots, has officially resigned from the organization. SAG-AFTRA responded in a brief statement:

“Thank you.”

Very brief.

Following the events of a mob of Trump supporters that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as part of an effort to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election win, SAG-AFTRA’s National Board voted to find probable cause of a violation of SAG-AFTRA’s Constitution by then President Trump for inciting the rioters, which would have led to a hearing and possible penalties against Trump, including fines and possible expulsion.

During the attack on the Capitol, many broadcast journalists were intimidated and harassed by rioters. SAG-AFTRA includes members that are broadcast journalists.

“Donald Trump attacked the values that this union holds most sacred – democracy, truth, respect for our fellow Americans of all races and faiths, and the sanctity of the free press,” said Gabrielle Carteris, president of SAG-AFTRA. “There’s a straight line from his wanton disregard for the truth to the attacks on journalists perpetrated by his followers.”

In his official resignation letter, Trump touts his work in movies like “Home Alone 2,” “Zoolander” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” as well as TV shows “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “Saturday Night Live” and “The Apprentice,” which he hosted. He also boasted that he “greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics).” 

He calls the disciplinary charges from SAG-AFTRA “free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union.”

As evident by their response, the union isn’t too broken up about Trump’s exit.

WASHINGTON—The 2020 presidential election is adding another new wrinkle, as the second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is now expected to take place virtually rather than in-person.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced today, Oct. 8—one week before the second presidential debate is scheduled to take place—that the candidates will participate in the debate from separate remote locations. The debate will still be conducted as a town hall and moderator Steve Scully, senior executive producer and political editor at C-SPAN, will be at the original location for the debate in Miami. The White House Press Pool will be responsible for covering the debate.

The decision to have the candidates participate virtually comes after it was revealed on Oct. 2 that Trump tested positive for COVID-19. The president spent last weekend at Walter Reed Hospital, and then was released on Monday, Oct. 5. Reports have indicated that he has had mild symptoms at times since contracting the virus. In addition, multiple White House staffers and aides to the president have also tested positive for COVID-19 in subsequent days. 

It is recommended by the CDC and other top health officials that those who are diagnosed with COVID-19, or come in contact with someone who has tested positive, self-quarantine for a time of up to two weeks to help prevent spreading the virus. The Oct. 15 date of the second presidential debate falls within that recommended time frame.

In reaction to the CPD’s announcement, Trump said in a Fox Business interview that he would not participate in a virtual debate, calling it a “waste of time.” A CPD representative told CNN that it is the right of the president to decline to participate in a debate. 

The second presidential debate is scheduled to take place on Oct. 15 at 9 p.m. ET.

WASHINGTON—President Trump has announced his intention to nominate Nathan Simington to fill the FCC seat being vacated by Michael O'Rielly, whose renomination was withdrawn by the president apparently because O'Rielly was critical of the his effort to regulate social media.

Simington is currently senior advisor at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is the president's chief communications advisory arm, where he worked on 5G security/supply chain issues.

He also reportedly worked on NTIA's petition to the FCC to come up with the regime for regulating social media that the president had called for and that O'Rielly had criticized.

Simington is formerly senior counsel to wireless company Brightstar, where the White House points out he "negotiated deals with companies across the spectrum of the telecommunications and internet industry, including most of the world’s leading wireless carriers.

Before that he was at powerhouse law firm Kirkland & Ellis as an associate in its corporate practice.

O'Rielly can continue to serve in his post either until Congress adjourns or Simington has had a nomination hearing in the Senate and is confirmed in that body, whichever comes first.

If O'Rielly left before his mandatory exit, it would leave the FCC at a 2-2 tie, which Republicans clearly don't want. And even if he stayed through the end of December, the FCC could be at a 2-2 tie depending on how long it took to vet and vote a successor given the intervention of a presidential election and a lame-duck Congress with few legislative days.

O'Rielly has already been vetted and voted in the Commerce Committee and had only been awaiting a Senate vote when the president abruptly pulled the nomination, likely over an O'Rielly speech to the Media Institute in which he raised concerns about the negative consequences of regulating social media company content, something the president has pushed.  

But there had also been a hold on O'Rielly's nomination placed by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who was unhappy with an FCC decision to allow Ligado to use spectrum adjacent to GPS for terrestrial broadband. That was a unanimous decision, but O'Rielly's is the only FCC nomination up for renewal and that hold was considered a signal to the whole FCC of Inhofe's unhappiness rather than any desire to derail O'Rielly. 

O'Rielly tweeted his support for his successor, saying: "I extend my sincere congrats to Mr. Simington for selection to join @FCC, and offer best wishes for a smooth confirmation process and successful term at the Commission."

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has ordered that foreign-owned FCC licenses, and future applications for licenses from foreign-based companies, be put under the microscope by a newly established committee that will have the power to revoke or deny licenses.

On April 4, Trump issued an executive order for the formation of the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector; the committee will also be known as Team Telecom. The committee will be headed by Attorney General William Barr, with other members including the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security and a presidential appointee.

The mission of the committee is “to assist the FCC in its public interest review of national security and law enforcement concerns that may be raised by foreign participation in the United States telecommunications services sector,” the order read. This will include the review of applications and licenses to determine potential national security risks. Upon those reviews, the committee will advise the FCC to dismiss, deny or make conditions to any application, or to modify or revoke an existing license. Any review of an existing license must be approved by a majority of the committee.

If no national security risk is raised by an application or existing license, the committee will inform the FCC as such.

For applications, the review process must be completed within 120 days of receiving completed answers from the applicant, unless a secondary assessment is determined necessary, which would allow for an additional 90-day review. For existing licenses, all reviews must be completed in 30 days.

In addition to the heads of the committee, advisers to the committee will include the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the United States Trade Representative, Director of National Intelligence, Administrator of General Services, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and another presidential appointee.

“I applaud the president for formalizing Team Telecom review and establishing a process that will allow the Executive Branch to provide its expert input to the FCC in a timely manner,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. “Now that the Executive Order has been issued, the FCC will move forward to conclude our own pending rulemaking on reform of the foreign ownership review process.”

FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly also voiced his support for the order as a way of “fixing the incoherent and indefensibly unpredictable review process.”

The full executive order is available online. 

WASHINGTON—The proposed fiscal year 2021 budget from President Donald Trump calls for the elimination of federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting over a two-year period—a bit of news that has become somewhat of an annual tradition under his administration.

As detailed in the proposed budget, CPB would receive $30 million in FY 2021 for “agency close-out costs,” which would help fund facilities costs, personal liabilities and existing contracts. Over the proposed two-year close out, the White House estimates the total close-out costs will be $58 million.

The $30 million would be a decrease of $435 million that CPB received in federal funding in FY 2020.

“CPB funding comprises about 15% of the total amount spent on public broadcasting, with the remainder coming from non-Federal sources, with many large stations raising an even great share,” the budget reads. “This private fundraising has proven durable, negating the need for continued Federal subsidies.”

It claims that PBS and NPR, two of the most recognizable public networks supported by CPB, could makeup any shortfalls by increasing revenues from corporate sponsors, foundations and/or members. It also says that since alternative programming to PBS and NPR have grown over the years, the need for publicly funded programming options has decreased.

America’s Public Television Stations’ President and CEO Patrick Butler disagrees with the White House’s position and its attempts to slash CPB’s funding.

“We provide the only preschool education for more than half of America’s children,” Butler said. “We are the backbone of public safety communications networks at the local, state and national levels. And we do more than anyone else to equip America’s citizens for challenging and rewarding work of democracy.”

Butler says he hopes to continue to work with the White House to emphasize how important federal funding for public broadcasting is so that its services can remain free for the public.

Trump has previously proposed similar funding phase outs or entirely eliminating funding for CPB in his budget proposals. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress came to the support of the CPB each time to continue providing its funding. In fact, in FY 2020, the $465 million approved for CPB was the first increase in funding the organization had seen in 10 years.

WASHINGTON—FedNet is providing live broadcast coverage of the impeachment inquiry hearings using TVU Networks TVU Grid, the company announced this week.

If the House of Representatives approves articles of impeachment of President Donald Trump, the multimedia content provider to the U.S. Congress will also rely on the TVU Grid for its coverage of the subsequent Senate impeachment trial, it said.

FedNet provides a secure video network throughout the Capitol complex. It broadcasts thousands of hearings, press conferences and live Senate and House floor debates. The content provider’s choice of TVU Grid for impeachment hearing coverage is FedNet’s first live streaming initiative, said TVU Networks.

“We needed an infinitely scalable set up,” said FedNet President Keith Carney. “With TVU Grid, we can scale to any number of locations to our network without increasing bandwidth requirements at each site. And we can route live video streams using TVU Grid anywhere in the world with sub-second latency.”

Besides the live gavel-to-gavel multicamera switched coverage of the hearings, FedNet is providing live interviews with legislators. Multiple feeds are being made available on TVU Grid.

FedNet is looking at reaching educational institutions with feeds to assist in the study of political science and journalism as well as targeting commercial media outlets, the company said.

The TVU Grid offers point-to-multipoint bidirectional live video distribution via IP. Those on the grid can view available video sources from around the world and request to make the stream available to their audiences. The TVU Command Center manages TVU Grid, enabling uses to examine the status of transmissions and TVU Servers, the company said.

More information about FedNet is available on the company’s website.

More information about TVU Grid is available on the TVU Networks website.

WASHINGTON—The open impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump scheduled to begin next Wednesday are sure to grab headlines, but Americans will be able to watch the proceedings live as a result of the announced plans by many broadcasters to provide sweeping coverage of the proceedings.

In a blog post written on Common Dreams, Michael Winship and Bill Moyers explained how the Watergate impeachment hearings that were covered “gavel-to-gavel” by PBS in 1973 was public television’s “shining hour” and that PBS should repeat that practice once again with these new impeachment hearings.

However, it seems PBS needed little convincing. Friday, the same day Winship and Moyers’ story was posted, PBS announced its plans to cover the impeachment hearings, saying that it would provide live coverage of the hearings on TV and digital. The hearings will also be reaired during primetime on WORLD, the digital channel carried by 157 public TV stations; they will also be available on-demand on all PBS digital platforms.

Other broadcasters have set their coverage plans as well. CBS News will offer live “wall-to-wall” coverage on its CBSN streaming news service, while it will also preempt regular daytime programming for coverage of the hearings. C-SPAN has also announced its impeachment coverage plan.

The hearings will begin Wednesday, Nov. 13.

WASHINGTON—As open impeachment inquiry hearings for President Donald Trump are scheduled to get underway next week, C-SPAN has announced that it will be providing full, uninterrupted video coverage of all the proceedings.

The public access network says that it will provide “gavel-to-gavel” coverage of every Congressional session on both its television and streaming platforms. It will also make on-demand videos available through its website, C-SPAN.org.

A number of special features have also been announced, including special editions of the daily “Word for Word” newsletter that will have video clips of key moments and a special impeachment inquiry web resource at www.c-span.org/impeachment. On the impeachment website, viewers can access all of C-SPAN’s impeachment coverage on-demand.

Viewers can also sign-up to receive a daily C-SPAN program guide.

Congress will begin to hold its open hearings on the impeachment proceedings on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

WASHINGTON—Blasting NBC and some of its recent report as “fake news,” President Donald Trump used Twitter to query whether or not it was appropriate to challenge NBC’s broadcast license. The tweet came after NBC News released a story asserting that the president wanted to increase the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Networks are not licensed by the FCC, though NBC’s owned TV stations are. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has promised in the past to Congress that he would not penalize free speech “even if requested by the administration.”

NAB issued a response to the president's tweet from NAB CEO and President Gordon Smith: “The founders of our nation set as a cornerstone of our democracy the First Amendment, forever enshrining and protecting freedom of the press. It is contrary to this fundamental right for any government official to threaten the revocation of an FCC license simply because of a disagreement with the reporting journalist.”

Former FCC Commissioner and Common Cause Special Advisor Michael Copps released this statement in response: "This madcap threat, if pursued, would be blatant and unacceptable intervention in the decisions of an independent agency. The law does not countenance such interference. President Trump might be happier as emperor, but I think the American people would strip him of his clothes on this issue. Additionally, it's not just NBC stations that will find this threat chilling, but also smaller independent stations around the country who might lack the resources to fight back." 

Read B&C's story here.

WASHINGTON—Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts, is still up in the air, as the White House has released its 2018 budget proposal that again attempts to defund both organizations. The White House’s previous proposal that would have zeroed out CPB was denied in Congress’ omnibus spending bill that will last through September. This new proposal is for the 2018 final budget.

TVT’s sister publication, B&C, has the full story.

WASHINGTON—What many believed would happen is now official with the release of President Trump’s budget proposal—funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is being zeroed out. The CPB provides nearly half a billion dollars in federal money for non-commercial media, but according to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney the government is “ending federal involvement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

TV Technology’s sister publication B&C has the complete story.

WASHINGTON—FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will head to the White House on Monday to meet with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. There is now word on what the meeting will entail, but it comes ahead of Pai's Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing that is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

The full story can be found on TVT's sister publication B&C.

MCLEAN, VA.—Virtual reality and the peaceful transition of power for the U.S. government will be bedfellows on Friday, Jan. 20, as USA Today Network has announced that it will provide livestream virtual reality and 360-degree coverage of the inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump.

Photo credit: Aaron P. Bernstein, Getty Images

The first livestream content produced by USA Today Network’s “VRtually There” show, the stream will include multiple VR camera angles positioned at the Capitol, the National Mall, and along the inaugural parade route. Nikon is providing a KeyMission 360 camera that will allow USA Today Network to livestreaming in 360-degrees via in-camera stitching.

Viewers can watch the livestream through VR headsets via the USA Today channel in the YouTube app. The livestream will also be available in 360-degree format through YouTube for desktop and mobile users.

USA Today Network’s streaming coverage of the inauguration will begin at 9:30 a.m.

WASHINGTON—This Friday, President-Elect Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the U.S., and Dejero will be on hand to capture it for its domestic and international customers. Broadcasters from Los Angeles to Japan will reportedly be utilizing Dejero’s Live+ range of IP newsgathering equipment for the 2017 presidential inauguration.

Dejero will offer a range of IP newsgathering gear, including its EnGo and GoBox mobile transmitters for the transportation of live IP video. The Live+ platform will do so by bonding all available IP networks including cellular, Wi-Fi, and satellite for high-quality, low-latency video.

In addition, Dejero is planning on deploying private Wi-Fi hotspots to ensure coverage at different areas like the parade route, White House, the South and North Lawn, the National Mall, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

Broadcasters covering the event will be able to use Dejero’s Live+ Control cloud management tool to monitor and route feeds and remotely manage equipment in the field.

LOS ANGELES—A few months ago, Shots magazine did a special issue on the technical trades behind-the-scenes in the industry and they chose me to represent expertise in the world of lighting. For each piece in the issue, they wanted to demonstrate the trade: stunts showed the breakdown of an action sequence; foley showed beautiful photographs of the obscure objects that create amazing sounds; makeup took four people and made them all look like one person. The challenge was to take a single scene and light it four completely different ways to show the power and versatility of lighting.

After discussion with the creative team at Shots, it was decided that my approach would be a neutral afternoon natural daylight look, a surrealistic noir look, a night time candle romantic look and, finally, a horror look.

Because I’m a bit of a freak, I also decided to accomplish these looks with the most minimalistic equipment and crew that I could—further demonstrating my constant mantra that you can do more with less. We shot the scenes at the office of Bartle Bogle Hegarty Inc., the creative agency that was managing the issue. I came with my usual kit: two 4-foot x 4-bank Kino Flo fixures, one 1K Fresnel, three 650K Fresnels, two 150W Fresnels, four LitePanels Croma fixtures and one assistant, Roman Negrette.

Photographer Nolwen Cifuentes was on set to shoot the results of my work.

Set lit for natural daylightDAYLIGHT LOOK
In order to get three night looks, we started work late in the afternoon. So we naturally started with the daylight look. We wanted a realistic feeling, but not too high key, keeping it moody.

The wall in the background, outside the windows at frame right, is all lit by natural light from the sun. The windows in the office had a northwest exposure, but close buildings blocked any direct sunlight from entering the office. I really liked the base look of the natural daylight and we decided to go a little cool with that by setting the camera to a mid-range color temp of about 4300K. I started with filling in the shadows a little bit by bringing in the 4’ x 4-bank Kino Flo with 5500K daylight tubes, just to the left and above camera. I then brought in several tungsten Fresnels and used them as my hard, late-afternoon sunlight.

I started with two 650W Fresnels in the far corner of the office (outside of frame left). The first 650W Fresnel edges the model named Gabbie, who is leaning against the credenza dressed in white overalls. It provides a hot halflight on her body, as well as the credenza and the ceramic hand in the background. This Fresnel also puts an edge on the gold record hanging on the wall and the plant just under it to add life to the background.

I added in a second 650W Fresnel that backlights Mary, the model in black as well as J.P.’s shoulder on the far right and the back of Tom’s head (seated far left). Finally, I put a 300W Fresnel outside the windows just behind the wall where the gold record hangs. I spotted that in to get a hot edge on the side of Gabby’s face and head.

Surrealistic noir lookHYPER-NOIR
The second look brings us into a bit of surrealism with a “hyper-noir” sunset. This is our biggest departure from reality as we wanted the venetian-blind effect, but the real sun would set behind the models. We waited until the real sun had set and I used a 650W Fresnel lamp just outside the window pointing into the room to give the “sun” highlight in the background, which would also flare the lens a bit. I then took 2-inch black gaff tape and stretched several pieces between two C-Stands to create an instant venetian blind that was lit from a 1K tungsten Fresnel. I removed the Fresnel lens to make it an open-face fixture and create a harder shadow from the blinds on the models. A small Litepanels Croma LED fixture is tucked under the credenza to help bring the background plant out of the shadows and bring in some background detail. The white balance of the camera was set to a very high 10,000 Kelvin to make the tungsten lights read very, very warm.

Set lit for a candlight eveningCANDLE LIGHT
Our third look was a late-night candlelit feel. We started by placing the candles around the set, but these were very small candles with very small wicks and we didn’t get much light out of them at all. To get the feel of candle light, I wanted to edge light the models from low angles. This starts with a 150W Fresnel fixture that is bounced into a silver reflector on the floor, placed at the feet of Tom (far left). This uplights Tom with an organic breakup pattern that feels like it’s actually coming from the candles. I did the same thing with J.P. (far right), but because of the wooden blocks and books, the bounce was further away and the effect wasn’t as significant. For Mary and Gabby, I placed a pair of Litepanels Croma fixtures, dialed down to tungsten color balance, hidden behind J.P.’s body to give the ladies their low edge light. Finally, the practical lamp has a 150W bulb dimmed down to make it nice and warm.

... and night of horrorTHE HORROR
Finally, our last look was a “horror” feel. I started with the 1K Fresnel (with the lens back in) outside the window, flooded to cover most of the room with backlight and I put full CTB on the fixture. Inside, I kept one of the Litepanels Croma fixtures tucked in behind J.P. and dialed the color temperature to 5500K to match the blue of the backlight. Adding a generous amount of atmosphere into the room from a small glycol fogger helped to spread a little of the backlight into the shadows so we could get a better look at the talent, even in the dark.

Overall, this challenge was a lot of fun. I wanted to do it all with a very small lighting package that required nothing more than standard house power. For each lighting challenge, I wanted to accomplish them as simplistically as I could, yet create completely different moods. The candle light shot used the most fixtures (five), but I only used three fixtures for the daylight and two lights for both the noir sunset and the horror. Lighting doesn’t have to be complicated to tell a story.

All of the techniques I used, and more, are included in my book “Behind the Lens: Dispatches from the Cinematographic Trenches,” available from Focal Press. Find it and my first book “A Shot in the Dark: A Creative DIY Guide to Digital Video Lighting on (Almost) No Budget,” on Amazon.com and booksellers everywhere.