Trump Calls For Revoking The Broadcast Licenses Of Two Networks That Declined To Interrupt Their Evening For His Election-Fraud Speech, Resolving Long-Standing Concern That A Network Could Still Choose Its Own Programming

WASHINGTON. Vowing to protect the integrity of the nation's airwaves, President Trump on Thursday called for the federal government to strip ABC and NBC of their broadcast licenses after the two networks declined to carry his primetime address live, resolving a long-standing concern that an American television network could still decide for itself what to put on television.

The roughly 25-minute address, delivered from the White House, alleged that China had illegally obtained U.S. voter registration data and that a "deep state" had withheld the intelligence from him, and it announced the declassification of documents the President said would substantiate his claims about the 2020 election. ABC and NBC each announced in advance that they would run their regularly scheduled programming and make the speech available on their streaming platforms instead. CNN also declined to carry it live. CBS aired most of the address in a special segment accompanied by on-screen notes about the President's prior statements on the 2020 election. Fox and the CW carried it in full.

"Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses," the President said of the networks, adding, "They use our public multi-billion dollar in value airwaves for absolutely no money. They pay nothing." Officials declined to specify whether the fraud in question referred to the election, to the scheduling decision, or to both.

The demand arrived atop an existing effort. The Federal Communications Commission, chaired by Trump appointee Brendan Carr, had already ordered ABC to submit the licenses of its eight owned-and-operated stations for early renewal, a rarely used step that opens each license to public challenge years ahead of schedule. A sitting FCC commissioner observed that the networks' programming choices were protected by the First Amendment and that the agency held no authority to penalize a broadcaster for declining to air a political speech, an observation the administration did not address.

Sources within the administration characterized the licensing threat as a straightforward matter of accountability, explaining that a broadcaster granted free use of the public airwaves incurs a corresponding obligation to broadcast the President whenever the President wishes to be broadcast. The same sources noted that the networks retained the full freedom to decline, provided they were prepared to reapply for the right to exist.

At press time, executives at both networks were reviewing the evening's ratings to determine whether the regularly scheduled programming they had aired instead was worth the federal inquiry.