NBC parent Comcast is the subject of a federal investigation focused on the telecommunication firm’s DEI initiatives and practices.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to CEO Brian Roberts revealing the agency’s investigation Tuesday, stating its Enforcement Bureau had been directed to investigate at the behest of the Trump administration.
‘I expect that this investigation into Comcast and its NBCUniversal operations will aid the commission’s broader efforts to root out invidious forms of DEI discrimination across all of the sectors the FCC regulates,’ Carr wrote in the correspondence.
The recently appointed chairman noted how Comcast’s website promotes DEI initiatives when it comes to hiring, training and programming.
Trump has signed a series of executive orders over the past several weeks that have caused federal agencies to dial down DEI programs, laying off thousands in the process.
Earlier this week PBS announced it was closing down a unit entirely dedicated to DEI initiatives in the wake of a $20 billion lawsuit filed by the president.
CBS’s parent company Paramount Global was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which surrounds an October 60 Minutes interview with the then vice president Kamala Harris and several sections of it that did not make it to air.
Trump has already secured a $15 million defamation settlement from ABC News in December, after which he vowed to sue other outlets due to the press being, in his words, ‘very corrupt’.
NBC parent Comcast is the subject of a federal investigation focused on the telecommunication firm’s DEI initiatives and practices
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr (pictured at a conference in 2020) sent a letter to CEO Brian Roberts revealing the agency’s investigation Tuesday
Comcast’s executives recently held a post-earning conference call to discuss its upcoming Cable spinoff SpinCo, which will include channels like MSNBC and CNBC.
The new company, headed by Mark Lazarus, will include networks like USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel. Parting ways with some NBCUniversal assets in the process, Comcast is keeping NBC and NBC News.
The streaming service Peacock, meanwhile, is also staying with Comcast, run by the chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios, Donna Langley, and Matt Strauss, chair of NBCUniversal’s media group.
Previously chairman of NBCUniversal’s TV and streaming divisions, Lazarus was named the boss of SpinCo in November. The company is made up of mostly NBCU cable channels alongside Comcast’s networks.
A few weeks before, Lazarus told high-level staffers how he wants more Republican voices on MSNBC and is mulling running opinion programming during the day, The Ankler reported in the wake of the elections.
The changes may come with pay cuts for longtime opinion hosts like Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle, the outlet further reported.
Weeks earlier Lazarus was said to have slashed Rachel Maddow’s salary by some $5 million after she agreed to stay with the network for another five years. She has since been brought back to a five-day-a-week schedule amid historically low ratings.
Trump, seen here at the Super Bowl on Sunday, has already secured a $15 million defamation settlement from ABC News after which he vowed to sue other outlets due to the press being, in his words, ‘very corrupt’
He is also suing CBS parent Paramount, due to an an October 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris Trump’s team says was unfairly edited
Comcast is hoping to complete the spin-off in approximately one year, with SpinCo operating as an independent business amid a transition services agreement with NBCUniversal that execs implemented.
Goldman Sachs & Co LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co LLC are serving as financial advisors to Comcast during the transition, which began in November a few weeks after the election.
The plans to spin off NBCUniversal’s cable networks into a separate, publicly traded company comes amid a pivot to streaming, which will now be the focus of NBC Universal.
The tax-free spinoff will not include the NBC or Telemundo, after NBCUniversal chief Mike Cavanagh in October stated that the company would rather consider partnerships in streaming rather than a merger with firms like Paramount.
‘When you look at our assets, talented management team and balance sheet strength, we are able to set these businesses up for future growth,’ Roberts said upon announcing the intent to start the separate, publicly traded company.
‘With significant financial resources from day one, SpinCo will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners.’
Roberts is the Chairman and CEO of Comcast, which offers cable television, wireless phone and broadband internet services.
Roberts is the Chairman and CEO of Comcast. The company’s NBC- and Telemundo-owned local TV stations are heavily regulated by the FCC as they broadcast on public airwaves
The company is in the proces, who has
It owns NBC Universal, which includes the NBC broadcast network, NBC Sports, Universal Pictures and the streaming service Peacock.
The NBC and Telemundo-owned local TV stations staying with NBC are regulated by the FCC and possess an FCC-issued license to broadcast publicly.
Comcast’s wireless phone and cable TV services are also regulated by the FCC, due to their status as ‘public utilities.’
Asked to react to the CBS 60 Minutes interview being scrutinized, Carr said the network’s ‘conduct is hard to explain’ and accused it of bias and deceptive editing.
Paramount, meanwhile, is prepared to settle in its own case, insiders told publications like the The New York Times late last month.
Shari Redstone, its controlling shareholder, is in talks to sell the media empire founded by her father Sumner in a multibillion-dollar merger deal with Skydance Media that is in limbo after a special committee of Paramount Global’s board of directors received an eleventh-hour, $13.5 billion bid from another firm.
Skydance offered the consortium of investors $8 billion.
Reports suggest a streaming joint venture with Paramount was under consideration this time last year before the merger deal with Skydance emerged.
Carr, meanwhile, has backed Trump’s call for licenses to be stripped from all three major broadcast networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS
The heiress stands to make a pretty penny either way, adding billions to a fortune bequeathed by her father.
Carr, meanwhile, has backed Trump’s call for licenses to be stripped from all three major broadcast networks.
According to the Desk, Comcast notes on a corporate website how it has spent a total of $18 billion on ‘diverse Tier 1 suppliers’ since 2010.
It also offers more than 100 ‘diverse networks on Xfinity platforms’, the outlet reported – and over 18,000 hours of ‘diverse on-demand and online programming’ offered since 2018.
On the same site, Comcast said it aims to ‘infuse diversity and inclusion (D&I) into all aspects of our culture and our business.’
‘D&I is not a program — it is a central element of our credo and our DNA.’
In a statement sent to DailyMail.com, a spokesperson for Comcast said they were cooperating with the investigation.
‘We have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission and will be cooperating with the FCC to answer their questions,’ the rep said.
‘For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers.’
Legacy stations like NBC, ABC, and CBS have been broadcasting in the US since the early days of TV, which, due to the lack of bias at the time, is widely known as ‘the golden age of journalism.’
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