Trump's Return Is Putting Media Industry 'Under Fire'

Trump's return is putting pressure on the U.S. media industry. From filing lawsuits to threatening to revoke broadcasting licenses, the former president has never been soft in his confrontation with news organizations. Now, as he returns to the White House, media companies are nervously assessing the regulatory merger and acquisition challenges they may face in the future.

Long-standing Grievances Erupt

Trump's conflict with mainstream news organizations has a long history. During his first term, he repeatedly criticized CNN, The New York Times, and NBC as fake news and called them enemies of the people, threatening to revoke the broadcasting licenses of TV networks like ABC and CBS, accusing them of failing to fulfill their public interest duties in reporting.

A few weeks ago, Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS, a subsidiary of Paramount Global, for $10 billion, claiming that its program 60 Minutes biasedly reported on him through deceptive editing in an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

In addition, he also filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC and its morning show host George Stephanopoulos, accusing them of false reporting on Trump's business practices.

Moreover, Trump's legal team has also sent a letter to The New York Times, accusing the newspaper of defamation in its descriptions of Trump's business failures and scandalous history in books and articles.

Although most of these legal actions have not been successful, they have sent a clear signal to the media industry: Trump shows no signs of backing down in his confrontation with news organizations.

Mergers And Acquisitions Face Uncertainty

As Trump returns to the White House, the media industry is experiencing a wave of mergers and acquisitions, including Skydance Media's acquisition of Paramount, the merger of DirecTV and Dish, and Comcast's consideration of spinning off MSNBC and other assets into an independent company. These deals all require approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice.

However, Trump's attitude towards media industry deals has always been unpredictable. During his first term, the government attempted to block AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner. Although this lawsuit ultimately failed, the Trump administration's Department of Justice had hinted that the deal would be approved only if Time Warner divested CNN.

A similar cloud also looms over Skydance's acquisition of Paramount. Since Paramount owns the CBS broadcast network, this deal requires FCC approval to be completed. According to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act), the Department of Justice's review period has passed without antitrust objections, but the transfer of broadcast licenses involved in the deal may become a challenge.

It is worth noting that Skydance's major shareholder, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has a long-term friendly relationship with Trump, and Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount's parent company National Amusements, also has a close relationship with the Trump camp. These connections may provide some support for the deal, but industry observers generally believe that under Trump, these merger and acquisition deals still face a lot of uncertainty.

In addition, these media also face the potential risk of increased regulation. During Trump's first term, he threatened to ban the short video platform TikTok on national security grounds, although the ban was not implemented, this incident shows that the Trump administration may exert direct influence over the industry through executive orders.

The Regulatory Scope is Limited

The main responsibility of the FCC is to issue broadcast licenses, which are usually valid for eight years, and the latest license renewal cycle will start in 2028. In addition, according to the law, the FCC is not allowed to revoke the licenses of radio and television stations based on news content.

This means that in the short term, the Trump administration cannot directly hit media organizations by revoking broadcasting licenses.

Even so, Trump again criticized CNN and MSNBC as hostile camps in his victory speech and called for the revocation of some news organizations' licenses.

It should be pointed out that cable networks such as CNN and MSNBC are not regulated by the FCC because their signal transmission does not rely on public radio waves. This means that even if the FCC is held hostage by Trump, its impact on the networks it identifies as the main hostile camps is still limited.

However, Trump's supporters can still put pressure on the media industry in other ways. For example, investor David Sacks recently called on the government to auction off the broadcast spectrum used by CBS, NBC, and ABC on the social media platform X, claiming that they no longer serve the public interest.

The Heritage Foundation pointed out that the FCC should relax restrictions on the broadcasting industry and allow more local TV stations to merge. This policy recommendation may be implemented under the Trump administration, creating more opportunities for conservative media groups such as Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Faced with a complex political and regulatory environment, the media industry is beginning to adapt proactively. David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, mentioned in a recent earnings conference call: With the arrival of the new administration, the pace of industry consolidation may change significantly. It is too early to draw conclusions now, but we must be fully prepared.

Although Trump may continue to promote a strict regulatory agenda for the media, the media industry has its tenacious resilience. Blair Levin, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, pointed out that major broadcasting companies such as Nexstar, Fox, and Sinclair are all closely related to Trump, which may balance their impact on the industry to a certain extent.