The Federal Communications Commission last week eliminated the gigabit speed goal established during the Biden administration and declared that current levels of broadband deployment in the US are acceptable. Though fiber networks have routinely offered such speeds for years, the FCC said the gigabit speed goal is not "technologically neutral," suggesting that it isn't fair to other, slower technologies.

In 2024, the FCC raised its broadband benchmark to 100Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream, setting the new standard by which to judge whether deployment is reasonable and timely. The FCC at the time also set a long-term speed goal of 1Gbps download speeds paired with 500Mbps upload speeds, saying it would use the goal “as a guidepost for evaluating our efforts to encourage deployment.”

Republican Brendan Carr, who is now the FCC chairman, never liked that long-term goal. He proposed abolishing it last year, and the change was finalized on August 14 in the FCC's latest broadband deployment report. The reports are mandated by Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act.

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Disney today sued the Federal Communications Commission and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in a lawsuit that aims to stop what it called a "campaign of censorship" waged by the Trump administration against ABC.

Disney, ABC, and the eight broadcast stations they own filed a complaint in US District Court for the District of Columbia. They also submitted a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would halt the FCC proceeding in which Carr is threatening to deny renewals of broadcast licenses held by ABC stations.

The lawsuit accused the FCC of violating the First Amendment by retaliating against the company's protected expression. "Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech—the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air," the lawsuit said. "Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech."

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The Federal Communications Commission has been shorthanded throughout President Trump's second term, but it's about to get a new commissioner. Unsurprisingly, Trump is breaking a historical norm with a nomination that would give Republicans a 3-1 advantage on the FCC.

Historically, the president and Senate worked together to ensure that the president's party maintained only a one-vote majority. Normally, the president's party has three FCC members while the minority party has two.

Instead of the typical 3-2 split, the FCC has operated with a 2-1 Republican majority during Trump's second term. On Friday, Trump nominated Republican Danielle Thumann Severs to take one of the empty spots. Thumann Severs, a lawyer, has been working as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's senior counsel. She must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate before being sworn in as a commissioner.

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The Federal Communications Commission voted 2–1 today to eliminate the National Television Ownership Rule, claiming authority to repeal a limit that was set by Congress over 20 years ago.

The rule prohibits any single broadcast station owner from reaching more than 39 percent of all TV households in the US. Under Chairman Brendan Carr, the FCC is replacing the rule with a “case-by-case review” of each proposed merger.

"This will empower the FCC to approve deals that promote the public interest while allowing the agency to reject any deals that do not meet that standard," Carr's office said in a press release today. Without the 39 percent rule, broadcasters will be better able to compete against streaming companies that don't face similar limits, Carr's office said.

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Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who was House majority leader from 2003 to 2005, said the Federal Communications Commission has no legal authority to repeal the National Television Ownership Rule. Despite DeLay's warning, the Trump FCC appears ready to eliminate the rule at its meeting this week.

DeLay wrote an op-ed describing how he helped write the law that prohibited any single broadcast station owner from reaching more than 39 percent of all TV households in the US. DeLay said that only Congress, not the Trump FCC, can change the cap because the 39 percent limit is specified in US law and wasn't chosen by the commission.

DeLay gave his view in an op-ed for The Daily Wire yesterday, less than three weeks after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced a plan to eliminate the cap. The FCC is scheduled to vote on Carr's proposal on Thursday.

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Conservatives and liberals lined up in opposition to the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to punish ABC for speech that President Trump dislikes.

Liberal advocacy groups urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to end his attacks on ABC, and conservative groups warned Carr not to set a precedent that would harm conservatives in future administrations. Former FCC chairs and commissioners from prior Republican and Democratic administrations also joined in opposition to what they call Carr's "campaign to censor disfavored speech and advance the president’s personal interest."

The FCC recently ordered ABC to file early license-renewal applications for the eight TV stations it owns and operates. A petition to deny ABC's license renewals was then submitted by the Center for American Rights, a conservative group whose previous petitions factored heavily into Carr's "news distortion" investigations into broadcasters accused of bias against Republicans and Trump. Another petition to deny was filed by the conservative Media Research Center.

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