from the ministry-of-truth,-except-dumber dept
We’ve covered for years the ugly retransmission feuds that break out between your cable company and broadcasters during contract negotiations. These fights routinely result in you losing access to channels you pay for with no real recourse. The FCC has perpetually refused to protect consumers from this stuff, taking a sort of “boys will be boys” approach, regardless of party.
Now the Trump FCC has decided to pretend to take action, but their “solution” is super dodgy, likely illegal, and primarily aimed at propping up the local right wing propaganda broadcast ecosystem.
Some simple background: cable, satellite, and streaming platforms pay retransmission fees to local broadcast television stations for the right to retransmit their signals to subscribers. Reverse retransmission fees are payments local television stations make to national broadcast networks for all the leverage and perks that come from being associated with a national broadcast brand (ABC, CBS, NBC).
In an editorial over at The National Pulse, rarely-heard-from Trump FCC pick Nathan Simington has crafted an op-ed proposing reform of retransmission and reverse retransmission fees. His proposal, to cap “retransmission fees” at 30 percent to harm the “corrupt media cartel”:
“The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should cap reverse retransmission fees (revenue that local TV stations pay back to their affiliated broadcast networks) at 30 percent to protect local broadcasters, lower consumer costs, and strike a decisive blow against the corrupt media cartel.”
On the surface that’s kind of a snoozer. But if national broadcaster or cable company doesn’t provide appropriate deference and terms to one of these local right wing propaganda peddlers pretending to do journalism, the FCC says it would intervene:
“And if the networks try to make an end-run by demanding an unfair cut in ad sales, restricting available airtime for local news and weather, or prohibiting broadcasters from trying to reach new audiences through alternative distribution channels, then the FCC should be prepared to step in and stop it.”
It’s “funny” because the government, for decades, refused to intervene in the very real problem of retrans feuds and soaring programming costs because they insisted it was overreach. And now that the FCC is intervening, it’s in this super dodgy, bad faith way that’s likely illegal. Simington tries to frame this proposal as a solution to media consolidation and a plan to benefit small town Americans:
“We must return power to the communities and stations serving the people. Local broadcasters provide vital coverage—emergency alerts, school board meetings, small business spotlights—that you’ll never find on CNN or MSNBC. They reflect the values of the towns and cities they serve. “
Except most local U.S. broadcasters do no such thing. Most of America is dominated by consolidated right wing local broadcasters like Nexstar, Fox or Sinclair, which long ago replaced traditional news with a lot of lazy-ass infotainment (the local zoo has a new Panda!) heavily peppered with right wing propaganda on issues like crime, homelessness, drug use, and immigration.
You might recall that Sinclair got the wrong kind of attention a few years back for its “must run” propaganda segments kissing Donald Trump’s ass:
Simington basically wants to exploit a real problem (media consolidation and messy retransmission disputes) and leverage it to push a fake solution favorable to Republican-friendly local broadcasters. As Free Press CEO Craig Aaron notes on Bluesky, it’s illegal for the FCC to take regulatory action based on the political content of broadcasts (I recommend reading his whole thread, especially the bits about Simington’s Chief of Staff Gavin Wax).
This is, as always, about money, size, and influence. Nexstar and Sinclair don’t want to have to pay as much to have their propaganda carried. They also want the FCC to eliminate whatever’s left of U.S. media consolidation limits so they can expand their influence. And Trump Republicans want to continue their radical ideological mission of replacing all journalism with Trump-friendly propaganda.
So Simington and FCC boss Brendan Carr have been making the rounds dressing up this whole plan as a way to “empower local broadcasters.” Something that’s then parroted by lazy journalists or media companies that don’t want to get on the wrong side of King Dingus:
But again, the goal here has nothing to do with helping local journalism, the goal here is to empower right wing propaganda that’s favorable to Trump. As with so much stuff the Trump administration does, this obvious hand out to a handful of rich guys is being portrayed as somehow “populist”:
“This reform is in the same spirit as President Trump’s efforts to break up Big Tech, bring back American manufacturing, and take on the pharmaceutical lobby. It’s a populist solution to a top-down problem. It reduces costs, decentralizes power, and reorients the system to serve the needs of regular Americans, not just media executives and political elites.”
The Republican con here should be obvious by now. They want to destroy journalism and replace it with propaganda. If you do anything other than coddle and amplify that propaganda, you’re accused of “censorship” (remember when they freaked out after DirecTV refused to carry OAN?). They then set about censoring any viewpoints critical of authoritarianism while pretending to be “free speech absolutists.”
Just more dodgy shit from an agency whose primary job appears to be harassing companies for not being racist enough, or launching faking investigations into media companies that do journalism critical of King Trump. It’s like watching the Ministry Of Truth out of 1984 be constructed in real time, except by absolute fucking idiots who worship a used car salesmen operating at a fourth grade reading level.
Filed Under: broadcasters, censorship, fcc, journalism, local, media, nathan simington, propaganda, retrans, retrans feuds
Companies: sinclair broadcasting
