FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to the CEOs of Alphabet and Google, calling out the refusal of YouTube TV to carry a network, Great American Family, as a potential case of discrimination against faith-based programming.
In his letter to Sundar Pichai and Neal Mohan, which he posted on X, Carr wrote that he has received a complaint from Great American Media in which they claim that YouTube TV “deliberately marginalizes faith-based and family-friendly content.” He noted that the network is carried on cable and streaming services including Comcast, Cox, Hulu, FuboTV and DirecTV stream.
“YouTube TV refuses to carry them,” Carr wrote.
Carr acknowledged the limitations on the FCC’s authority over virtual MVPDs compared to cable distributors, as program carriage rules apply to traditional television. The FCC has had multiple open proceedings to expand the regulatory framework to virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV, Carr noted.
Carr is requesting that the company brief FCC staff. “Understanding the nature of carriage policies in the virtual MVPD sector can help inform the FCC’s approach to the broader set of regulatory issues the FCC has been called upon to address,” he wrote.
A YouTube spokesperson said, “We welcome the opportunity to brief the FCC on YouTube TV’s subscription service and the strategic business decisions we make based on factors like user demand, operational cost and financial terms, and to reiterate that we do not have any policies that prohibit religious content.”
Great American does have a presence on YouTube, with a Pure Flix channel that has more than 275,000 subscribers and the Great American Family channel that has more than 100,000 subscribers. YouTube users also can subscribe to certain channels like Max and Paramount+ without needing a YouTuve Tv subscription.
In his letter, Carr put the Great American Family carriage in the same context as his criticism of tech giants over their content moderation policies. Carr has long claimed social media platforms have engaged in discrimination against conservative voices. He has talked about reforming a key law, Section 230 of the Communications Act, that has immunized platforms from lawsuits over third-party content.
In his latest letter, Carr noted that Google “offers a range of products that have benefited from the protections contained in Section 230 of the Communications Act. With respect to those covered products, Google’s conduct is only protected to the extent its actions, as relevant here, are taken in good faith.”
If there is any action on Section 230, tech companies are likely to challenge the FCC’s authority. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, recently wrote, “Only Congress can change and amend the law that gave us the internet as we know it today.”
“In addition, the Supreme Court has said content moderation is a form of free speech by private actors,” Gomez wrote. “And recent decisions (Major Questions, elimination of Chevron Deference) only further signal that the FCC injecting itself into this debate will be a fool’s errand.”