WASHINGTON—The public interest group Free Press has filed comments condemning the Federal Communications Commission's inquiry on whether TV warning labels should be updated to include “transgender and gender non-binary programming.”

In its comments, Free Press wrote that the FCC proceeding is a “meritless and invalid attempt” to “chill LGBTQ+ content with which its current Chairman may disagree.”

The filing explains that the agency lacks any authority to regulate the parental-ratings system, which Congress allowed video programmers to create on a voluntary basis.

The FCC’s attempt to influence the industry through this proceeding “raises numerous First Amendment concerns, including the unfounded conflation of ‘gender identity’ with obscene or indecent material," the filing said.

In an April 2026 Public Notice, the FCC’s Media Bureau called for comments on how it might improve the current TV ratings system for children's programming. In that Notice it said that it was examining a number of issues related to TV ratings and warning labels, including how the current system deals with LGBTQ+ and transgender related content.

“Recently, parents have raised concerns that controversial gender identity issues are being included or promoted in children’s programs without providing any disclosure or transparency to parents,” the Public Notice alleged. “Specifically, the industry guidelines that parents rely on are rating shows with transgender and gender non-binary programming as appropriate for children and young children, and doing so without providing this information to parents, thereby undermining the ability of parents to make informed choices for their families. Consistent with Congress’s vision for the ratings system, we seek comment on whether the industry’s approach is continuing to provide the information that is relevant to parents today.”

The call for comments on the current system has received over 31,000 comments including those from such conservative politicians and groups as U.S. Senator Senator Jim Banks (Ind.-R), Center for American Rights President Daniel Suhr and the Concerned Women for America, calling for updates that would flag content with LGBTQ and transgender themes.

Separately, 13 Republican state attorneys general filed comments urging the FCC to create a separate system where viewers could rate programs. “Empowering parents to protect their children from inappropriate content requires empowering the parents,” the Republicans argued. “Continuing to allow media-industry technocrats—whose moral systems are misaligned with the viewing public’s—to form moral judgments about the suitability of their own content is a system that cannot be fixed through small tweaks or public meetings. Rather, it should be scrapped entirely and the power to evaluate content should be given directly to the viewing audience.”

In its filing, Free Press said that more than 40 organizations and industry associations, including Free Press, have filed comments to oppose Carr’s proposal.

Shilpa Jindia, Free Press policy counsel and coauthor of the filing, said that “with this disturbing inquiry, the Carr FCC is expanding its broader censorial campaign targeting disfavored groups and Trump-administration critics. It’s yet another example of how this bigoted administration is working to intimidate and silence LGBTQIA+ voices and attack diversity, equity and inclusion.”

“This FCC got the issue all wrong from the start,” Jindia added. “The agency lacks authority over the television parental-ratings guidelines. In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress provided no role for the FCC if the television industry voluntarily developed an adequate ratings system first, as industry groups did almost 30 years ago. Congress also did not grant the FCC any oversight function over the TV Oversight Management Board, which the industry established to ensure that ratings guidelines apply consistently across television programming. The FCC is abusing administrative procedure by acting outside of its statutory authority to further this White House’s abhorrent anti-trans agenda.”

WASHINGTON—Twenty-eight public-interest groups, labor unions and civil-rights organizations have sent the Federal Communications Commission a letter supporting a petition that asks the agency to deny the proposed merger of Nexstar and Tegna.

The petition was filed at the end of 2025 by Free Press, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians—Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA), The NewsGuild—Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA), the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Public Knowledge. It urged the FCC to reject the acquisition which would put Nexstar over the ownership caps currently governing broadcast station groups.

Our coverage of the petition is available here and our coverage of the deal can be found here.

“The proposed transaction would cause incredibly high levels of concentration in local TV markets, would raise cable and satellite prices around the country, would cause irreparable harm to local news and consumers and would be contrary to the public interest,” wrote the signers of the Jan. 26 letter in support of the petition to deny. They added that the FCC lacks the authority to approve this merger.

If approved, the multibillion-dollar deal would combine the nation’s largest television-station conglomerate with its fourth largest. Nexstar controls more than 200 television stations in 116 local U.S. markets. If the FCC approves the merger, the combined entity would own and/or operate 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia, and would be present in 132 of the country’s 210 television Designated Market Areas (or DMAs), the letter noted.

Signers of the letter include AFT, the American Economic Liberties Project, Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), the Center for Journalism & Liberty at Open Markets Institute, the Committee for the First Amendment, Common Cause, Fourth Branch Action, Get Free, the Hispanic Federation, HTTP, Indivisible, the Japanese American Citizens League, Local Independent Online News Publishers, MANA—A National Latina Organization, the Media and Democracy Project, the Multicultural Media Telecom & Internet Council, NAACP, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Urban League, the OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Public Citizen, SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West.

The full letter of support is available here.

WASHINGTON—In the wake of a widespread crackdown on DEI initiatives by the Trump administration and Federal Communications Commission, Free Press has issued a new report detailing the impact those efforts have had on the civil rights commitments of the nation’s largest media companies.

The report, Complicit: Corporate Media’s Capitulation to Trump’s Attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, aims to shed new light on the ongoing capitulation of major media and tech companies to the dictates and provides a disturbing reversal of prior civil-rights commitments.

Complicit finds that 26 of the top 35 media companies caved to the administration by rolling back various DEI policies and practices just days or weeks after Trump issued anti-DEI executive orders on Jan. 20 and 21, 2025. Some of these companies got ahead of the executive orders: Amazon, Disney, Fox Corporation, Google, Meta and X had already backed away from prior diversity, equity and inclusion measures in the weeks following Trump’s November 2024 election.

As previously reported by TV Tech in our coverage of the FCC, NBCUniversal, CBS, AT&T, Verizon and several pending mergers, many of the media companies and telcos who have rolled back their DEI policies agreed to the changes as part of an effort to get FCC approval of pending mergers.

Paramount Skydance, for example, settled a libel suit with Trump and announced they would end DEI efforts shortly before the FCC finally approved the Paramount Skydance acquisition.

Report author and Free Press Campaign Manager Ruth Livier wrote that “Trump’s anti-diversity, equity and inclusion executive orders form the foundation of his regime’s efforts to dismantle our democracy. Outside of Trump and his enablers, no one is safe from attack. Failing to serve as an essential check against tyranny, corporate players are increasingly serving as megaphones for the MAGA movement, putting vulnerable communities at greater risk of attack — and betraying our democratic values.”

The full report is available here.

WASHINGTON—Several labor unions and public interest groups have filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission urging the regulator to deny the Nexstar-Tegna merger because it would violate station ownership caps and would not be in the public interest.

“Though Nexstar and Tegna seek a waiver of this limit, the commission is prohibited by law from waiving, altering, or eliminating this National Cap,” the petitioners wrote, adding that as the FCC “is legally barred from granting applicants’ request to waive the National Multiple Ownership rule, the Commission should immediately deny those waiver requests and deny the application in full."

The petition to deny the transfer of broadcast licenses from Tegna to Nexstar was filed by Free Press, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians—Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA), The NewsGuild—Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA), the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry and Public Knowledge.

The Dec. 31 joint filing adds to a growing list of opponents to the deal. Others who have filed petitions opposing it now include EchoStar, Newsmax, Circle City Broadcasting, DirecTV and the American TV Alliance (ATVA).

Last November, Nexstar filed for FCC approval to acquire Tegna’s broadcast licenses. If approved, the multibillion-dollar deal would combine the nation’s first- and fourth-largest largest television-station groups. It would have 265 full-power television stations in 44 states and Washington, D.C.

The Nexstar filing argued that the deal “is absolutely critical to preserve the ability of the local television stations owned by Nexstar and Tegna to continue as viable, reliable sources of trusted, locally focused news and information.”

In its filing, EchoStar argued that the FCC does not have the authority to waive the 39% ownership cap and that the creation of a gigantic station group controlling “265 stations in 132, or 80%, of the country’s 210 Designated Market Areas…sharply contravenes [public]...interest. It would result in higher prices for multichannel video programming distributors and therefore for consumers.”

Circle City 's filing noted: “CCB is licensee of full-power television stations WISH-TV and WNDY-TV, both in the Indianapolis market, and is the applicant in a pending application for consent to acquire the license of television station WRTV, also in the Indianapolis market. CCB’s interests and those of viewers in the market, as well as the interests of advertisers and MVPDs, would be adversely affected by the grant of these applications.”

Circle City also stressed that the deal would not be in the public interest because it hurt other local outlets and reduce local news. “The proposed combination would give Nexstar a near-monopoly over local television advertising revenue, retransmission consent revenue, program acquisition, and local news production in the Indianapolis market,” the CCB filing concluded. “It would, in all likelihood, force CCB to reduce or eliminate its own local news operations, if not shut down entirely.”

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK—Paramount has announced it is acquiring The Free Press, a subscription commentary website, and that site co-founder and CEO Bari Weiss will join CBS News as editor-in-chief.

Paramount did not disclose financial terms of the deal but reports have valued the acquisition at $150 million.

The deal follows months of turmoil at CBS News, whose coverage of the Trump administration became a major sticking point in getting the Federal Communications Commission to approve the Paramout Global-Skydance merger. Earlier this year, some top news executives resigned following reports that Paramount was planning to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump over its handling of an interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election.

The FCC eventually agreed to approve the merger after Paramount paid $16 billion to settle the suit and agreed to hire an ombudsman to oversee its news operations. It also agreed to end all DEI efforts. All three decisions were widely criticized.

In announcing the acquisition, Paramount said that the combination “brings together CBS News’s scale and reach with The Free Press’s culture-shaping voice and innovative spirit, united in the pursuit of setting a new standard for trusted journalism in America.”

In a statement, David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount said “This is an important initiative for our company and Bari will report directly to me—leading the work of The Free Press and collaborating with our CBS News team in the pursuit of making it the most trusted name in news. We believe the majority of the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based, and we want CBS to be their home.”

Ellison also noted: “Bari is a proven champion of independent, principled journalism, and I am confident her entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision will invigorate CBS News. This move is part of Paramount’s bigger vision to modernize content and the way it connects—directly and passionately—to audiences around the world.”

Paramount reported that the Free Press will maintain its own independent brand and operations, and continue to do reporting, video and audio podcasts, and events for its fast-growing community of subscribers.

Paramount also reported that The Free Press, founded in 2021, has become one of the largest and fastest-growing digital media outlets today. Over the past 12 months, its revenues are up 82% and subscribers up 86% to 1.5 million over all; more than 170,000 of those subscribers are paid.

As editor-in-chief of CBS News, Paramount said that Weiss will shape editorial priorities, champion core values across platforms, and lead innovation in how the organization reports and delivers the news.

More specifically, Paramount reported that "Weiss will partner with CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, who reports to Paramount’s chair of TV Media, George Cheeks. Cibrowski’s decades of journalistic, operational, and broadcast experience provide essential continuity and expertise. Their partnership reflects Paramount’s recognition that the future of CBS News as a dynamic, multiplatform newsroom requires unified editorial leadership across television, streaming, digital, audio, social media, and events."

“This is a great moment for The Free Press,” Bari said. “This partnership allows our ethos of fearless, independent journalism to reach an enormous, diverse, and influential audience. We honor the extraordinary legacy of CBS News by committing ourselves to a singular mission: building the most trusted news organization of the 21st century.”

WASHINGTON—A Free Press petition that demand a government investigation into broadcasters that have covered President Donald Trump’s statements during White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings has been “wholly denied” by the FCC.

The proposed investigation would have looked into broadcasters who have aired the president’s statements during briefings, as well as related commentary regarding the pandemic by other on-air personalities. The petition sprang up from criticism that the president was making misleading statements about the severity of coronavirus and efforts to contain it, including some calls for broadcasters not to air the daily briefings in full.

In a letter, the FCC’s General Counsel Thomas M. Johnson Jr., and Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey, wrote that an investigation “would dangerously curtail the freedom of the press embodied in the First Amendment and misconstrues the commission’s rules.” They wrote that the FCC will not serve as a “roving arbiter” of broadcasters’ editorial judgement.

FCC Chairman Pai also issued a statement regarding the decision, saying that he has defended the First Amendment as FCC chairman and would continue to do so.

“The federal government will not—and never should—investigate broadcasters for their editorial judgements simply because a special interest group is angry at the views being expressed on the air as well as those expressing them,” Pai said. “In short, we will not censor the news. Instead, consistent with the First Amendment, we leave it to broadcasters to determine for themselves how to cover this national emergency, including live events involving our nation’s leaders.”

The Free Press had no public comment in response to the FCC’s decision at the time of publication.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has declined to overturn the FCC's restoration of the UHF discount on the grounds that the parties challenging it--Free Press, Prometheus Radio--did not have standing to bring the challenge.

That could be a big boost to broadcast M&A, though it might not be the big boost for the Sinclair-Tribune deal given the FCC's other problems with it.

The UHF discount means that only half of a UHF TV station's audience counts towards the 39% national ownership cap. The discount allowed Sinclair to bid for Tribune stations that otherwise would have pushed it to almost double that 39% cap.

“I’m pleased with the court’s decision to reject this challenge to the reinstatement of the UHF discount pending the completion of our comprehensive review of the national ownership cap," said FCC chair Ajit Pai.

[Read: Report: Pai Preparing July Vote On 39 Percent Cap/UHF Discount Review]

During oral argument last April, the judges clearly had concerns about not having statements from individual members of the associations establishing particular harms related to the Sinclair-Tribune deal, which the petitioners used as an example of the harms of the discount. The court wanted the petitioners to have identified at least one Free Press member or Prometheus member in a Sinclair market that would have been affected by the potential merger.

The three-judge panel of the court said the argument did not even warrant a published opinion, adding that it did not have to reach the merits of the decision because of that lack of standing.

Those merits were whether it was within the FCC's discretion to reinstate the UHF discount pending “a broader review of the [national ownership] cap” itself after the FCC, under previous chair Tom Wheeler, had concluded it had erred in eliminating the UHF discount before that review.

Since there is no published opinion, it is unclear whether the petitioners could have won on the merits, though two of the three judges appeared inclined to agree with them. Most observers of that oral argument had speculated that, if the standing issue did not derail the challenge, it had a good chance of succeeding and the discount repealed and remanded back to the FCC.

But in a two-page document dismissing the petition to overturn the FCC decision, the three-judge panel said: "Membership organizations may assert standing on behalf of their members, but in order to do so they must show that at least one member “would otherwise have standing to sue in [his or her] own right.”

The court said Prometheus and Free Press did not do that, and it did not accept those showings in a supplement filed after oral argument.

Now that the court has ruled, Pai is expected to proceed with an item that combines the discount with re-thinking the 39% national audience reach cap to which the discount is tied, perhaps by raising it to 50%, as some broadcasters have asked for, with a review of that move down the line in case it needs some more raising.

Free Press and Prometheus can appeal the three-judge decision to the full court.

Free Press attorney Andrew Schwartzman had no comment on next steps, saying he was still processing the decision and that it was too early to make that call.

"This should remove the cloud hanging over broadcasters, preventing them from further growth. The next, and most important, step is for the Commission to eliminate the national cap altogether," said Adonis Hoffman, former top FCC staffer and currently head of Business in the Public Interest. "Taken together, these actions will give broadcasters the regulatory foundation yo compete in a rapidly changing media market against the likes of FAANG [Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google]."

Equity Research analyst Marci Ryvicker called it a "nice and unexpected positive for the broadcast space."

WASHINGTON--The FCC, with an assist from a bunch of broadcasters including Sinclair and Tribune, have teamed up to tell a federal court that the groups challenging the FCC's return of the UHF discount did not have standing the bring the suit.

That came in comments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

After judges in oral argument suggested Free Press et. al had not provided the requisite documentation of harmed members, the group supplied testimonials to that effect.

But in a brief filed with the court Wednesday (May 16) in response to Free Press' supplement, the FCC said that the Supreme Court had long made clear that for an organization to establish standing, it must identify specific members "who had suffered cognizable, traceable, and redressable injuries," and that the court's signal that it would allow Free Press to provide that after the fact if Free Press could show that it "reasonably, but mistakenly, believed" its original filing "had sufficiently demonstrated standing."

The FCC said the petitioners had not done that. For one, it said, since petitioners did not identify any specific members, let alone what their injury might be, it "could not have reasonably thought it had demonstrated standing."

The FCC pointed out it had challenged standing, as had the broadcasters, Free Press et al. had failed to remedy that deficiency in reply briefs or oral argument.

And trying to use Free Press' supplement against it, the FCC said that its "belated submission of hundreds of pages of declarations, following a court order, demonstrates it was unreasonable for petitioners to have previously believed their standing was obvious."

As to Free Press' citation of the potential harms of a Sinclair-Tribune merger in their supplement, the FCC said that was simply "speculation about the effects of proposed broadcast acquisitions that are still awaiting Commission action." To be fair, Free Press also cited the impact of Sinclair-Bonten deal, which was approved last year.

Given that Free Press did not establish standing "at the time of the suit," or so the FCC argues, the court should dismiss the petition to review and reverse the UHF discount decision on the basis of lack of standing.

In their brief, Sinclair, Tribune, Fox, Univision, Trinity, ION and Nexstar, second-chaired the FCC's argument, summing it up this way:

"The Supreme Court and this Court long ago held that parties relying on the associational-standing doctrine must 'establis[h] that at least one identified member' has standing. It is likewise well-established that petitioners 'must produce actual evidence, not mere allegations, of facts that support [their] standing.' Petitioners failed to meet these clear requirements and had no reasonable basis for believing that the requirements did not apply."

They also agreed that the Sinclair-Tribune deal is "insufficiently certain or imminent to establish standing."

The insufficiently imminent point is because the FCC has yet to even restart its shot clock on the deal, after which it will put the latest deal out for several weeks of public comment before rendering a decision.

They also point out that the Bonten deal was not opposed by Free Press et al. "Petitioners cannot establish standing based on a transaction they did not oppose and cannot seek to undo because any alleged harm to Petitioners would be traceable to that transaction, not the FCC’s separate Reconsideration Order," they said. "Additionally, the FCC had not approved the Sinclair-Bonten transaction when Petitioners instituted this action, the “critical time for Article III standing analysis.”