Is the FCC coming for Comcast?

After targeting Paramount and Disney, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is eyeing Comcast’s NBCUniversal and its network of local affiliates. Could Versant, the company’s cable TV spinoff, be a strategic move to deflect attention from the Trump administration’s media watchdog? Kim Masters and Lucas Shaw investigate.

A league of their own? As media companies buckle under the Trump administration’s campaign to dismantle DEI programs, Comcast has taken a different path. “They don't seem as willing to just fork over some money and tell them to go away,” Shaw explains. “There is a little bit of speculation that one of the reasons that Comcast is doing this spin with Versant is to put MSNBC in a separate company so that maybe it attracts a little bit less attention from Washington. But the Comcast shareholders still have the same stakes, so I feel like Trump sees through that.”

Drip, drip? Shaw points to a clear pattern in the administration’s media strategy, particularly in how the FCC chairman manages sensitive investigations. “If you look at how he communicates what he's doing and his intentions to the public, they always seem to be leaking news of investigations to right wing outlets that will cover them in the way that the administration wants.”

Equity hire? As the incoming Paramount leadership set its sights on acquiring TheFree Press and bringing founder Bari Weiss to CBS, Shaw sees the purchase of the independent publication as a gesture of respect. “I raised the concern with that, specifically from a business perspective, that these digital media deals don't tend to work out very well, at least financially,” Shaw notes. “It's really an Acqui hire where they're just paying what they need to bring in someone like Bari, whom they have a lot of respect for.”