FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is unimpressed with CBS and it may very well be expensive for the Tiffany Community, On The Cash has realized.
At subject: A current push by the woke TV community for the Federal Communications Fee and Carr to drop its investigation into alleged violations of the company’s so-called “public interest rules” involving the controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris.
The inquiry is a lingering sore spot for the community. Not solely is it casting doubt on its inner ethics, specifically that it unfairly edited the interview with the gaffe-prone Democratic presidential candidate to make her look good within the warmth of the 2024 election. Additionally it is a key ingredient holding up FCC approval for CBS mother or father Paramount’s long-sought sale to unbiased film studio Skydance.
In a current submitting, CBS stated its launch of the total transcript of the interview exhibits it did nothing incorrect within the enhancing course of and the case ought to be dismissed. Carr summarily rejected the proposal, saying his investigation will proceed.
Privately, On The Cash has realized, he had harsher phrases for community brass.
Carr believes CBS has carried out nothing to carry the fee’s investigation to an finish, together with a repair for the alleged pervasive bias in its programming, in accordance with folks with data of the matter.
“The case isn’t close to being settled right now,” is how one FCC official aware of Carr’s pondering put it to On The Cash. “Now CBS could come in and make a big offer for remedies tomorrow, but that doesn’t seem like it’s on the table.”
An FCC spokesman didn’t return a request for remark. A CBS rep declined to remark.
With out settlement discussions, the FCC’s inquiry may drag on for weeks, probably months additional delaying the Paramount-Skydance deal.
As reported by On The Cash, Skydance — which has but to get its hooks into Paramount and may very well be battling a rival bid for the media conglomerate — is weighing doable treatments to push the approval course of alongside, together with an ombudsman to observe CBS information content material and ensure it’s freed from bias.
One other main headache for Paramount is President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit towards CBS over the Harris interview.
Why does any of this matter for the merger? The FCC is the first regulator over the printed media enterprise that airs programming over public airwaves, versus cable. The company can deny native broadcast licenses to firms and derail mergers when there’s proof that information content material violates its public curiosity guidelines by containing apparent political bias.
CBS Information has come beneath hearth from conservatives for years over an allegedly left-wing slant in its programming.
In the meantime, the “60 Minutes”-Harris interview has been steeped in controversy because it aired final Oct. 7. Conservative teams together with the Heart For American Rights, or CAR, quickly found that CBS beforehand had aired a promo of the Harris interview the place her reply to a query in regards to the Center East appeared markedly much less coherent than what finally ran on this system.
CAR filed a criticism with the FCC that triggered the investigation that’s now suspending the Skydance-Paramount deal.
