Trump Lashes Out At ABC, NBC Over ‘Biased’ Coverage — Threatens To Revoke Licenses

The U.S. President said the networks give him “97% bad stories.”

President Donald Trump on Sunday slammed news networks ABC and NBC for being "biased" and peddling "fake news" on him and his party, and threatened to have their licenses cancelled or made more expensive.

"ABC & NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% BAD STORIES" in the eight months he has been president, Trump said in a Truth Social post late Sunday.

"IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC."

In a follow-up post, he said the two networks should at least "pay up BIG for having the privilege of using the most valuable airwaves anywhere at anytime!!"

This isn't the first time Trump has spoken out against news media organizations, frequently criticizing the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN.

More recently, he and Paramount, which owns CBS, reached a $16 million settlement in his lawsuit over the editing of an interview with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the regulator for U.S. television broadcasting, overseeing the use of public airwaves and licensing, among other things.

To be sure, some cable and satellite news channels, such as CNN and Fox News, do not require FCC licenses since they do not use public spectrum.

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company, and NBC is owned by Comcast; both pay licensing fees. Trump recently spoke critically about their prime time hosts, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, after seeming pleased with the cancellation of a CBS talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for Disney and Comcast, which also have several other business verticals apart from broadcast news, was 'bearish' as of early Monday.

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