# Brendan Carr
> Chair, Federal Communications Commission
- Profile type: Person
- Profile status: comprehensive
- Last updated: 2026-04-26T00:00:00.000Z
- Canonical URL: https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/brendan-carr/
- Also known as: Brendan T. Carr, Chairman Carr, FCC Chair Carr
## Summary
FCC Chairman since January 20, 2025; commissioner since 2017. Authored Project 2025's FCC chapter, framing the broadcast public-interest standard as a content-and-conduct lever — a posture carried into office through the Kimmel suspension, Nexstar-TEGNA approval, NFL sports-distribution proceeding, and the April 2026 TV Parental Guidelines NOI that for the first time pulls streamers into FCC content-rating scrutiny.

## Profile facts

- Current title: Chair, Federal Communications Commission


## Career trajectory

- 2009-01-01 — Attorney at wiley-rein. Communications law practice; counsel to Verizon, AT&T, and other carriers.
- 2012-01-01 — Attorney, Office of General Counsel at federal-communications-commission. Joined FCC staff.
- 2014-01-01 — Legal Advisor to Commissioner Ajit Pai at federal-communications-commission
- 2017-01-23 — General Counsel at federal-communications-commission. Appointed FCC General Counsel after Pai became Chair.
- 2017-08-11 — Commissioner at federal-communications-commission. Sworn in following unanimous Senate confirmation on August 3, 2017.
- 2025-01-20 — Chair at federal-communications-commission. Designated Chairman of the FCC by President Trump effective Inauguration Day.


## Media appearances

- 2025-09-17 — podcast: Carr says ABC affiliates can do this 'the easy way or the hard way' on Jimmy Kimmel, The Benny Show (Benny Johnson) (https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/brendan-carr-abc-fcc-jimmy-kimmel-charlie-kirk-1236522406/)
- 2026-03-29 — keynote: Carr at CPAC: Trump 'winning' the fight against the 'fake news media', CPAC / The Hill (https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5805710-brendan-carr-fcc-donald-trump-media-feud-cpac/)
- 2025-09-21 — video: Concordia Summit 2025 appearance, Concordia Summit (https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1970183350733410786)

_This page uses only public-professional information: official FCC roles, public statements made in his official capacity, signed Commission documents, on-the-record interviews, and publicly broadcast media appearances. No personal, family, or non-public-record information is included._

## Key facts

- Trump named Carr as his pick to chair the FCC on November 17, 2024; Trump designated him as Chairman effective January 20, 2025. As a sitting commissioner, the chairmanship designation did not require Senate reconfirmation. — The American Presidency Project (Trump statement, Nov. 17, 2024): https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-president-elect-donald-j-trump-announcing-the-nomination-brendan-carr-chairman
- Carr was first nominated to the FCC by President Trump in June 2017, confirmed unanimously by the Senate on August 3, 2017, and sworn in August 11, 2017. He has been confirmed unanimously to the Commission three times. — FCC.gov — Chairman Brendan Carr official biography: https://www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr
- Carr authored the FCC chapter in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 transition document, calling for the agency to 'rein in Big Tech, promote national security, unleash economic prosperity, and ensure FCC accountability and good governance.' — CBS News — "Trump's FCC pick Brendan Carr wrote Project 2025's FCC chapter": https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fcc-brendan-carr-project-2025-what-to-know/
- On April 22, 2026, the FCC's Media Bureau released DA-26-392, a Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on the TV Parental Guidelines, with comments due May 22 and reply comments due June 22, 2026. Carr framed the proceeding via X the same day. — FCC DA-26-392 (Public Notice, April 22, 2026): https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-392A1.pdf
- On March 19, 2026, the FCC's Media Bureau granted the Nexstar Media Group acquisition of TEGNA Inc. via DA-26-267, approving the $6.2 billion transaction on delegated authority rather than a vote of the full Commission. — FCC DA-26-267 (Memorandum Opinion and Order, March 19, 2026): https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-267A1.pdf
- On April 17, 2026, NFL executives Hans Schroeder, Ted Ullyot and Jeff Miller met with Carr's chief of staff Greg Watson, attorney advisor Allison Howell, and Media Bureau Deputy Bureau Chief Evan Morris to defend the league's distribution model amid FCC scrutiny of streaming carriage. The NFL filed an ex parte notice of the meeting four days later. — NBC News — "NFL defended streaming strategy in meeting with Trump administration regulators": https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/nfl/nfl-defended-streaming-strategy-meeting-trump-administration-regulator-rcna341450
- Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, sent Carr a joint letter raising 'serious concerns' about the use of delegated authority to approve Nexstar-TEGNA on a matter with significant legal, policy and economic consequences. — Deadline — "Senators question FCC chairman over approval of Nexstar-TEGNA merger": https://deadline.com/2026/03/nexstar-tegna-merger-ted-cruz-brendan-carr-1236769908/
- Carr publicly stated that the FCC would 'probably have no role' in approving Paramount Skydance's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, because WBD does not hold broadcast licenses, leaving the transaction outside the agency's traditional jurisdiction. — Wikipedia summary citing Carr public remarks (April 2026): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_acquisition_of_Warner_Bros._Discovery_by_Paramount_Skydance
- On September 17, 2025, Carr told Benny Johnson's podcast that ABC and its affiliates could deal with controversy over Jimmy Kimmel's monologue 'the easy way or the hard way' — comments that preceded Nexstar and Sinclair preempting the show, ABC suspending Kimmel for six days, and a Senate hearing in which Carr was questioned about his role. — Variety — "FCC Chairman Grilled Over Threats to ABC Affiliates": https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/fcc-chairman-senate-hearing-abc-affiliates-jimmy-kimmel-threats-1236611231/
- Carr joined the FCC in 2012 as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel; became advisor to then-Commissioner Ajit Pai in 2014; and served as FCC General Counsel beginning January 2017. Earlier, he was an attorney at Wiley Rein representing Verizon and AT&T after clerking for Judge Dennis Shedd of the Fourth Circuit. — Wikipedia — Brendan Carr (FCC career history): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Carr


## Related

- federal communications commission (Chair (current employer)) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/federal-communications-commission/
- anna gomez (Fellow FCC Commissioner; principal Democratic dissenter on Carr-led actions) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/people/anna-gomez/
- nexstar media group (Subject of Carr's March 2026 FCC approval (DA-26-267) and ongoing appellate challenge) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/nexstar-media-group/
- tegna (Acquisition target in the Nexstar–TEGNA transaction approved on Carr's watch) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/tegna/
- national football league (Subject of FCC sports-distribution inquiry initiated under Carr; April 17, 2026 ex-parte meeting on file) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/national-football-league/
- walt disney company (Parent of ABC; Carr opened DEI-practices investigation into Disney/ABC and was central to the September 2025 Jimmy Kimmel suspension episode) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/walt-disney-company/
- paramount skydance (Acquirer in Skydance-Paramount transaction Carr's FCC approved July 2025; Carr publicly said agency would have 'no role' in their proposed WBD acquisition) — https://thestateofstreaming.com/companies/paramount-skydance/


## External coverage

- Federal Communications Commission: Chairman Brendan Carr — Official FCC biography (https://www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr)
- Federal Communications Commission: Chairman Carr — Official statements (2025) (https://www.fcc.gov/about/leadership/brendan-carr/statements?year=2025)
- 2026-04-22 — FCC Media Bureau: DA-26-392: Notice of Inquiry on TV Parental Guidelines (April 22, 2026) (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-392A1.pdf)
- 2026-03-19 — FCC Media Bureau: DA-26-267: Nexstar–TEGNA transfer-of-control order (March 19, 2026) (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-267A1.pdf)
- 2024-11-18 — CBS News: Trump's FCC pick wrote Project 2025's chapter on the agency (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fcc-brendan-carr-project-2025-what-to-know/)
- 2025-09-25 — Variety: FCC chairman grilled over threats to ABC affiliates on Jimmy Kimmel (https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/fcc-chairman-senate-hearing-abc-affiliates-jimmy-kimmel-threats-1236611231/)
- 2026-03-29 — The Hill: Brendan Carr at CPAC: Trump 'winning' fake-news media battle (https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5805710-brendan-carr-fcc-donald-trump-media-feud-cpac/)
- International Center for Law & Economics: What Project 2025 can tell us about Brendan Carr's FCC priorities (https://laweconcenter.org/resources/what-project-2025-can-tell-us-about-brendan-carrs-fcc-priorities/)
- Brookings Institution: Not 'deregulation' but heavy-handed regulation at the Trump FCC (https://www.brookings.edu/articles/not-deregulation-but-heavy-handed-regulation-at-the-trump-fcc/)
- Columbia Journalism Review: The lonely campaigns of Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC (https://www.cjr.org/analysis/anna-gomez-democrat-fcc-paramount-carr.php)

## Profile
Carr's significance to a streaming-trade audience is not the breadth of his portfolio but the bridge he is building between the FCC's century-old broadcast jurisdiction and platforms the agency has historically left alone. The Project 2025 chapter, the September 2025 Kimmel episode, the Nexstar-TEGNA delegated-authority approval, the NFL sports-distribution proceeding, and the April 22, 2026 TV Parental Guidelines Notice of Inquiry all sit on the same throughline: a reading of the public-interest standard as an active content-and-conduct lever rather than a passive licensing predicate. The April 2026 NOI is the moment that throughline reaches streaming directly — the inquiry's framing of TV-Y14 ratings explicitly contemplates voluntary streaming-service participation in a content-rating regime the FCC oversees.

The commissioner most consistently on the other side of those actions is Anna Gomez, the Commission's lone Democrat, whose dissents and Politico-attributed "solution in search of a problem" framing of the TV-ratings NOI now form the in-record counterweight to nearly every Carr initiative. Carr's own posture is on the public record in his weekly statement archive on FCC.gov, his X account at @BrendanCarrFCC, and the slate of 2025–2026 podcast and conference appearances logged above.
## Coverage on The State of Streaming
- [The 1961 NFL Antitrust Shield Meets a 2026 Streaming Model](https://thestateofstreaming.com/policy-regulation/2026/05/doj-nfl-streaming-antitrust-fox-sinclair-sba/) — 2026-05-03
- [FCC's ABC License Order Reaches a Lever That No Longer Fits](https://thestateofstreaming.com/policy-regulation/2026/05/fcc-abc-license-renewal-disney-escalation/) — 2026-05-03
- [Carr's FCC Pressed Streaming on Three Fronts in 10 Days](https://thestateofstreaming.com/policy-regulation/2026/04/fcc-carr-streaming-jurisdiction-pressure/) — 2026-04-26
- [WBD Shareholders Approve Paramount Merger 99% to 1%](https://thestateofstreaming.com/business-deals/2026/04/wbd-paramount-shareholder-vote/) — 2026-04-25

## Tags

- fcc
- regulator
- policy-regulation
- public-interest-standard
- project-2025
- streaming-jurisdiction
- broadcast-licensing

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