FCC Chair Asks YouTube TV Why It Ha...

Brendan Carr has some questions about God. Mainly, why isn’t he getting more air time?

Donald Trump’s pick to head the Federal Communications Commission sent a letter last week to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan asking if YouTube TV has any policies that discriminate against faith-based programming—an ask prompted by a complaint from Great American Media, which claims the streaming TV provider refuses to carry its cable networks.

Carr doesn’t seem to see any reason why YouTube TV wouldn’t want to pick up Great American Media’s Great American Family channel. After all, as Carr writes, it’s “the second-fastest growing channel in cable television” and it’s already been picked up by platforms and services like Comcast, Cox, Hulu, FuboTV, and DirecTV. So, Carr wants to know, what’s YouTube TV’s beef with good, old-fashioned American programming like “Farm Kings” or “Celebrity Motorhomes?”

Now, a reasonable operator may assume that YouTube TV has simply done the math and figured there isn’t much to gain by adding Great American Family to its network, given that it’s a pretty niche operation that mostly produces made-for-TV films that answer the question, “What if Hallmark was born-again?”

But where most may see a very normal business decision, Carr fears there may be something insidious. He fears that YouTube TV might be marginalizing faith-based and family-friendly content. Worse, he believes that by not carrying channels like Great American Family, YouTube TV might be hurting the public discourse. “In too many cases, tech companies silenced individuals for doing nothing more than expressing themselves and in the digital town square,” he wrote.

Another observer might see the FCC’s pursuit of this whole thing to be a bit of favor-trading. Great American Media is co-owned by Bill Abbott, a Trump-orbiter who spoke at CPAC this year and has been using Trump’s victory to try to push his own programming, going so far as to claim the 2024 presidential election shows there is a demand for content that uplifts “faith, family, and country.” The son of Great American Media’s other owner, Tom Hicks, served as the National Finance Co-Chairman for Trump’s 2016 campaign and was the Texas chair for Trump’s America First Super PAC.

Frankly, it seems a little silly that God would need access to an over-the-top streaming platform when he has the ability to speak to humans directly, be it through speaking to people in their dreams or flooding the entire Earth to send a message. If anything, seems like God has the advantage when it comes to reach.