“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said at the time. “These companies can find ways to change conduct to take action, frankly, on Kimmel or, you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Within hours, Nexstar and Sinclair said they would refuse to air Kimmel’s show, and ABC suspended the program for six days. Kimmel returned to the airwaves after the network and its parent company Disney faced a viewer boycott amid criticism that they were bowing to pressure from Trump.
Days later, Nexstar and Sinclair also restored Kimmel to their line-ups without any apparent concessions from the comedian. But under the changes Carr is contemplating, station owners would have an easier time waging a prolonged protest against shows they object to.
In the months since the Kimmel controversy, Carr has repeatedly expressed an interest in making it easier for stations to preempt the networks.
“Over the years, folks have told me they have interest in doing it, but they haven’t felt like the FCC’s got their back — they haven’t felt like they would have the ability to do it,” he told POLITICO in November. “We should look at ways of strengthening the right to preempt.”
In a letter last summer to Comcast co-CEO Brian Roberts, Carr wrote that “Americans no longer trust the national news outlets to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” citing the results of a Gallup survey and remarks by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. In contrast, Carr said, “Americans largely hold positive views of their local media outlets, including local broadcasters.”