With a Republican majority at the FCC days away, Commissioner Nathan Simington is signaling that broadcast media regulations in particular will be among the first ones to be slashed under Chairman Brendan Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” mandate.
In an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Simington doubled down on the internal deregulatory initiative. “Let’s talk about profane cows, because these are ones that we’re lining up for the slaughterhouse,” Simington said when asked about long-standing FCC policies under review. “I think one of the prime areas of interest for ‘Delete, Delete, Delete’ should be our broadcast media regulations.”
Simington’s remarks come as the political balance of the Commission is poised to tip. With Democratic Commissioner Geoffrey Starks exiting in the coming weeks, Republican Commissioners Simington and Chair Brendan Carr would hold a 2-1 majority, enabling the GOP to unilaterally steer agency priorities.
While Carr has been at the center of recent congressional scrutiny over the Commission’s direction, particularly its investigations into corporate DEI programs and public broadcasters, Simington’s comments suggest further shifts are on the horizon, with broadcast media firmly in the crosshairs.
“Some of [these regulations] are just that old,” Simington said, referencing rules dating back to the Truman and Nixon administrations. “They’re from an era when broadcast media was the only form of telecom media that most people had access to. Obviously, that has changed radically.”
The commissioner pointed to the rise of digital streaming, noting that in 2023, streaming subscriptions outpaced cable for the first time. “Broadcasters are not in the same kind of economic and cultural positions that they once were,” he added.
As questions swirl around the FCC’s independence, Simington said, “Unless it’s something that’s been directly mandated by Congress or where we have clear direction from the West Wing that the President wants it to stay, we should consider deleting, deleting, deleting it.”
The statement echoes concerns raised by Democratic lawmakers during a recent House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, where FCC Chair Carr faced sharp criticism from Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and others who warned that the agency is being weaponized for partisan ends. Hoyer accused the Commission of drifting from neutrality and becoming “another cudgel in the President’s culture war.”
