Did the Federal Communications Commission fine NBC and ABC $25 million each for not carrying President Trump's July 16, 2026, speech and fine CBS $10 million for not airing it in full? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has imposed or threatened to impose fines on these three broadcast networks. Both the president and the FCC chairman have, however, threatened to revoke broadcast licenses or initiate license reviews.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @DougWahl1 account on X on July 26, 2026. It read:
SHOULD THE NETWORKS REFUSE TO PAY?
Trump's FCC has fined ABC and NBC $25M each for refusing to carry Trump's election security speech. CBS was fined $10M for pulling out of the speech early.
Your Thoughts
This is what the image in the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @DougWahl1 on X.)
News searches
Lead Stories searched Google News (archived here) and Yahoo News (archived here) and did not find any matching reports from credible news outlets using the search terms: "FCC," "fine," "NBC," "CBS," "ABC," and "speech."
ABC and NBC did not broadcast the prime-time speech on July 16, 2026, and CBS cut away after about 15 minutes while fact-checking Trump's claims of election fraud, which were the primary focus of his address. During his speech, Trump said that networks that did not air it were engaged in a "plot" and should have their licenses revoked.
Trump said, "In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said they would not cover this speech," adding, "Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses."
The clip of where Trump spoke about the broadcast networks is embedded below:
Nearly a week later, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said ABC's decision not to air the speech could be considered as part of an FCC review of the licenses of some ABC-owned stations. He said broadcasters must meet their public interest obligations.
On July 22, 2026, Carr told reporters (archived here):
I think when you have the president of the United States standing inside the White House delivering an important speech, I think that's something that broadcasters should be carrying. And so, obviously, this is an issue.
The FCC does not license ABC, NBC or any of the broadcast networks. Instead, it licenses individual broadcast stations, including stations owned by or affiliated with the networks.
The FCC has already ordered an early review of licenses for eight ABC-owned stations (archived here). The agency has not ordered a similar review of NBC stations, although it has investigated issues involving NBC's parent company, Comcast.
Lead Stories contacted the FCC for a response on the claim but did not immediately receive one.
