Brendan Carr

Brendan Carr is an American lawyer who became chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in January 2025, after serving as a commissioner since 2017. As chairman he has taken actions involving broadcast licenses, merger approvals and the equal time rule that affected national television networks, and before taking the post he wrote the FCC chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

Early Career and FCC Staff Posts

After law school Carr practiced telecommunications law at the firm Wiley Rein. He joined the FCC’s Office of General Counsel in 2012, became an adviser to Commissioner Ajit Pai in 2014, and was named the agency’s general counsel in 2017 after Pai became chairman.

Commissioner (2017–2025)

Nominated by President Donald Trump, Carr joined the commission in August 2017. According to the Associated Press, he was later renominated by President Joe Biden and was confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times.

During this period he wrote the FCC section of Mandate for Leadership, the policy book of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The chapter argued that Section 230 should be limited, in response to claims that technology platforms discriminated against users by viewpoint, and Carr separately called for FCC oversight of companies such as Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft.

Chairman (2025–present)

Trump named Carr chairman on 17 November 2024, calling him a “warrior for Free Speech.” In a statement after the election, Carr said the FCC would help rein in Big Tech and ensure broadcasters operate in the public interest. He took office as chairman on 20 January 2025.

Public broadcasting: On 29 January 2025, Carr asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to review whether underwriting announcements on NPR, PBS and their member stations amounted to prohibited commercial advertising. Both networks said they complied with the rules, and Carr wrote that he saw no reason for Congress to continue funding them.

Paramount and Skydance: In July 2025 the commission voted 2–1 to approve the transfer of 28 CBS-owned station licenses to Skydance Media in its merger with Paramount. The approval followed written commitments by Skydance to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to appoint an ombudsman to review complaints of bias at CBS, which Carr said he welcomed. Commissioner Anna Gomez dissented.

Jimmy Kimmel: On 17 September 2025, speaking on Benny Johnson’s podcast, Carr discussed Jimmy Kimmel’s on-air remarks about the killing of Charlie Kirk and said of broadcasters, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Nexstar and Sinclair said they would preempt the show on their ABC affiliates, and ABC suspended it the same day; it returned on 23 September. PolitiFact reported that Carr spoke on his own and that the commission took no formal action against ABC or Disney. The extent to which Carr’s comments led to the suspension is disputed.

Equal time: In January 2026 the FCC issued guidance withdrawing the automatic bona fide news exemption from the equal time rule for interviews on late-night and daytime talk shows.