1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

By passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress also eliminated the cap on the number of radio stations any one entity could own nationwide and also substantially loosened local radio station ownership restrictions. Substantial radio consolidation followed. Restrictions on ownership of television stations were also loosened. Public comments to the FCC indicated that the public largely believed that the severe consolidation of media ownership had resulted in harm to diversity, localism, and competition in media, and was harmful to the public interest. Fast forward to today’s politically charged landscape and there is now a new wave of growth in monopolistic growth of ultra conservative media companies buying up local affiliates, with NextStar and Sinclair leading the charge. I’m convinced that the current FCC Chairman, along with this administration, have made a deliberate and decisive blow to our fundamental rights and freedoms to the protection of free speech. The telecommunications industry has become beholden to the increasingly authoritarian pressures of Trump and his threats to sue them for anything that doesn’t align with the MAGA agenda, and he has called fifty nine percent of American voters, “Radical Left Democrats”, “The Enemy” and other terms that are designed to enflame his base and encourage violence towards us. This type of rhetoric and speech is NOT covered under the first amendment and must be stopped. You must hold him and his fascist regime accountable. Starting with the president’s administration one by one. The FCC has overstepped its boundaries and has been too lax about regulating monopolies who have gobbled up the local affiliates for decades and now are being used as state run media. This is America, not China, North Korea or Russia and this must end and these companies are publicly held and should be regulated by the FTC for monopolies and other anti-competitive practices, which is obviously not being done. Legislation should be passed to hold the FTC accountable.