Paramount Asks FCC To Approve Up to 100% Foreign Ownership of CBS, CNN
Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
4.7 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sonny Bunch and Catherine Rampell break down a wave of major FCC developments shaping the future of American media. Paramount is asking the FCC to approve up to 100% foreign ownership in a massive media deal that could impact CBS and CNN. Foreign money is flowing deeper into American news—and regulators may be on the verge of signing off. Meanwhile, the FCC is also reviewing Disney’s broadcast licenses following comments made by Jimmy Kimmel, raising new questions about free speech, media pressure, and political influence. All of this comes as critics argue the FCC under Brendan Carr is being used to target Trump’s political enemies.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everyone, and welcome to Bullwork Takes. I am joined by my colleague and good friend Sonny |
| 0:04.7 | Bunch to chat about the FCC and how hard its commissioner or its chair, rather, Brendan |
| 0:11.6 | Carr is working to safeguard free speech in this country. So, Sunny, there are a few developments |
| 0:18.6 | that have happened recently over at the FCC. |
| 0:22.2 | I want to start by talking about this semaphore scoop that the FCC is moving toward a review of Disney's broadcast licenses, |
| 0:31.9 | a maneuver that would up the pressure on the ABC owner as it faces fierce scrutiny from the administration again |
| 0:37.7 | over a late night monologue. So like what's your, what was your first reaction when you saw |
| 0:46.3 | this news? Well, it's really interesting because, you know, when you when you say that the president |
| 0:51.5 | shouldn't be out there saying that Jimmy Kimmel shouldn't be fired or should be fired, what everyone says, well, doesn't Donald Trump have free speech rights? |
| 0:59.2 | Isn't he allowed to, you know, speak his mind? And sure, he is. The problem is he controls the FCC through Brendan Carr. And Brendan Carr has proved himself very amiable to being his lapdog and trying to punish those |
| 1:12.5 | whose speech that the president dislikes. |
| 1:15.1 | And the timing of this move, which is, as best as I can tell, pretty unprecedented. |
| 1:21.5 | This is what the sources have said to semaphore and elsewhere. |
| 1:25.3 | But it's relatively unprecedented for the FCC to push for |
| 1:30.3 | these early broadcast license renewals is that he wants ABC to punish Jimmy Kimmel. He wants the |
| 1:39.0 | speech of a late-night host to be curtailed because it is offensive to the president, to the first lady. |
| 1:46.3 | And it was really interesting. |
| 1:47.7 | The interesting wrinkle here is that the first lady herself has gotten very involved with saying, |
| 1:53.6 | I find it offensive that Jimmy Kimmel would say that I have the glow of an expectant widow. And we can argue whether or not |
| 2:03.3 | that joke is in poor taste, particularly he made the joke before the assassination attempt at the |
| 2:10.6 | White House Correspondents dinner. We should note that. But it is in the aftermath of several other |
| 2:15.3 | attempts on the president's life, you know, we could |
... |
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