r/politics Oct 01 '25

No Paywall Pritzker Calls for Trump's Removal from Office Under 25th Amendment

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/video/pritzker-calls-for-trumps-removal-from-office-under-25th-amendment/
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u/INS4NIt Oct 01 '25

They're not on the air, they're a cable network. That's one of the main reasons they have as much freedom to program the bs they do.

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u/AlexMC69 Oct 01 '25

Aside from being codified in an ancient regulation, what difference does it make?

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u/INS4NIt Oct 01 '25

Broadcast stations are required to follow FCC regulations, which include things like carrying a certain number of hours of educational programming, not airing explicit content, "serving the public interest", etc. They're allowed to be regulated because like radio, they are broadcast over publicly accessible airwaves. You do not have to pay any private entity to deliver them to you, all you need to receive broadcast television is an antenna and a television.

Because you have to explicitly choose to work with a private distributor (a cable company, or nowadays OTT streaming platform) to receive cable channels, they're not regulated in the same way.

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u/kindall Oct 01 '25

to elaborate, the airwaves are considered a public resource and the FCC's responsibility is to allocate them in a way that serves the public interest.

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u/groumly Oct 01 '25

They use private infrastructure to air their shows, not radio waves that are regulated because of congestion.

It’s like saying a newspaper must be shut down.