Gigi Sohn: It’s the Media Consolidation, Stupid

Disney’s now-revoked suspension of Jimmy Kimmel after threats of regulatory retribution from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr isn’t just a free speech issue – it’s the predictable result of decades of media consolidation permitted by Congress, the FCC, and the Department of Justice.

Last week, Carr threatened Disney, parent of the ABC network and licensee of eight broadcast stations, with regulatory retribution for Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk’s killer the night before. He also urged ABC affiliates to drop or “pre-empt” the Jimmy Kimmel Live! program.

The dominoes fell quickly. Within hours, Nexstar – the nation’s largest owner of broadcast stations with 200 outlets – announced it would pre-empt the show on its 28 ABC affiliates. Sinclair, the second-largest owner, with 38 affiliates, followed suit. Faced with the threat of FCC retaliation and a large swath of affiliates refusing to air the program, Disney bent the knee and suspended Kimmel. And even after Disney reinstated him, Sinclair and Nexstar continued to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for four days, demonstrating how concentrated corporate control of local broadcast stations can be weaponized against both artists and audiences.

This isn’t the first time Carr has used regulatory threats to force concessions. Earlier this year, he held up approval of the Skydance-Paramount merger until Paramount settled a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. The company not only settled but also changed its editorial policies and hired a conservative ombudsman to review its news programming.

The deeper problem lies not in one commissioner’s strong-arming, but in the structure of the industry itself. According to The Motley Fool, the U.S. mass media is largely owned by just six corporations: Skydance-Paramount, Disney, Comcast, Warner Discovery, and Fox Corporation. At the same time, Sinclair and Nexstar, which refused to show the Kimmel show despite Disney’s reinstatement, dominate local broadcast TV, controlling nearly 400 stations collectively and 25% of ABC affiliates.

How did these companies become so powerful?

Decades of deregulation and permissive merger oversight by both parties. Congress’s failure to limit vertical integration in the cable industry through the 1984 and 1992 Cable Acts, combined with the FCC’s elimination of rules that once barred movie studios and broadcast networks from merging, set the stage. But it was the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that truly accelerated consolidation.

Republicans at the time saw the ’96 Act as a chance to eliminate all ownership caps on broadcast TV and radio. Vice President Al Gore intervened to prevent a complete wipeout of limits, but the caps were loosened dramatically. Where broadcasters were once constrained to a handful of stations, they could suddenly own far more – paving the way for the corporate giants we know today.

The result is a media landscape where a handful of conglomerates dominate. Local voices are diminished, independent outlets are crowded out, and the marketplace of ideas has been replaced by a marketplace of mergers. And in this environment, it becomes far easier for political intimidation to work.

When only a few corporations control what Americans see and hear, the system becomes vulnerable to political bullying. A single threat from a regulator should never dictate what programming stays on the air. Yet consolidation has left the media too concentrated to resist pressure and too dependent on government approval for even greater consolidation to stand firm for their journalists, entertainers, or audiences.

And perhaps not surprisingly, led by Chair Carr, the FCC will seek comment on weakening or eliminating the agency’s remaining limitations on media ownership later this month. Changing these rules to allow greater consolidation will help two companies in particular – Nexstar and Sinclair – who are already demonstrating their willingness to silence voices at the government’s behest.

If we want a media environment that protects free expression and resists political threats, policymakers must finally confront consolidation. Restoring real ownership limits and strengthening antitrust laws won’t solve every problem, but it will make our democracy more resilient. Until then, we’ll keep reliving the same cycle: power at the top silences voices in the middle, and the public loses out.

Correction: This Expert Opinion has been updated to reflect Sinclair and Nextstar's subsequent reinstatement of Kimmel.

Gigi Sohn is a Senior Fellow & Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. She was nominated to be an FCC Commissioner by President Joe Biden in December 2021. This Expert Opinion is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.

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