WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — President Donald Trump called for the revocation of ABC’s and NBC’s broadcast licenses Thursday night after both networks declined to air his primetime address on broadcast television, opting instead to carry it only on their streaming platforms.
Trump’s address, delivered at 9 p.m. ET, centered on declassified election-related intelligence and renewed claims about the 2020 election, which he has continued to dispute despite losing that race. ABC News, owned by Disney, and NBC News both said ahead of the speech that they would carry it live on their streaming services — ABC News Live and ABC News Radio for ABC, with what the network described as “comprehensive, anchored coverage” — rather than on their broadcast networks. CBS carried portions of the speech live on its broadcast network, a decision Axios noted as notable because broadcasters have historically moved in unison on whether to air a requested presidential address. CNN said it would treat the remarks as a “news event,” offering a live feed on CNN.com and its streaming platform alongside analysis from election, intelligence and FBI experts. Fox News aired the speech in full but had an anchor add a live disclaimer, saying the network had “not seen the evidence” for Trump’s claims that electronic voting machines are vulnerable and easily compromised.
During the address, Trump criticized the networks directly. “In a rare move, NBC and ABC, fake news, have both said that they would not cover this speech,” he said. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public multibillion-dollar-in-value airwaves for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting.” In a Truth Social post, Trump separately called the two networks “two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% BAD STORIES” and accused them of acting as an “ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY.”
Broadcast licenses are issued by the Federal Communications Commission, but they apply to individual local television stations, not to the national networks themselves; ABC and NBC do not directly hold FCC licenses, while their affiliate stations, many independently owned, do. Trump has made similar threats against broadcasters dating back to his first term and has escalated them during his second, including comments last September suggesting licenses should be pulled from networks airing content critical of him, after ABC’s suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The dispute unfolds against a backdrop of heightened tension between the administration and broadcast networks. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump ally, has led a series of investigations into broadcasters this year, including an early license review of eight ABC-affiliated stations in April and a separate probe into ABC’s “The View” over compliance with federal broadcast rules; ABC is currently in the midst of a license renewal fight with the agency. The National Association of Broadcasters described the FCC’s April station review as “nearly unprecedented.” Carr has denied that his actions reflect pressure or direction from the White House. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the panel’s lone Democrat, has said Carr’s approach toward broadcasters exceeds the agency’s legal authority. Separately, an FCC vote scheduled for August 6 could loosen local TV ownership rules, a decision with significant financial implications for broadcasters.
Networks have also cited legal caution in explaining their reluctance to air unverified election claims live, pointing to Fox News’ $787 million defamation settlement over its coverage of 2020 election fraud allegations. Thursday’s split coverage decisions also echo past instances in which networks declined to air a sitting president’s address, including in September 2022, when ABC, NBC and CBS all declined to broadcast President Joe Biden’s primetime speech on political extremism, and in November 2014, when networks similarly declined to air President Barack Obama’s address on immigration policy.
