1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

Block the FCC's move to gut the National Television Ownership Rule. FCC Chair Brendan Carr is dismantling the 39% household reach cap to clear the way for a $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger that would put over half of all U.S. TV households under a single ownership group. Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez has already called this what it is: an unlawful effort to hand control of public airwaves to billionaire allies, in direct violation of Congressional law requiring the FCC to enforce consolidation limits. This isn't abstract. Roughly 170 million Americans still rely on local TV news, and 2019 research directly links local news consolidation to measurable shifts in election outcomes. Sinclair Broadcasting's track record — airing coordinated right-wing propaganda and health disinformation across its stations — shows exactly where this road leads. Nexstar absorbing Tegna is a step toward one ideological bloc controlling nearly all local broadcast TV in America. Balanced news coverage requires structural competition, not consolidation. Restore the ownership caps, support media diversity requirements, and oppose any FCC action that trades the public interest for political convenience.