Jan. 07, 2026 at 1:06 pm

TV Tech’s Top Regulatory Stories of the Year

WinstonJanuary 7, 2026no commentNo tags

In 2025, regulatory issues dominated the headlines in a ways not seen in decades, as an activist Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr pushed hard to advance the administration’s agenda,

While a number of stories related to late night TV and Jimmy Kimmel made the list, very few of the most popular regulatory stories on the TV Tech website, involved one time controversies. Most of these stories, particularly those relating to free speech, ownership rules, blackouts and the ATSC 3.0 transition, also provide essential background reading for the regulatory issues that will continue to reshape the industry in 2026.

Here are the 20 most popular stories touching on regulatory issues that were posted to the TV Tech website in 2025:

1. Disney Urged to Shut Down ABC to Avoid Political Turmoil

Analysts think Disney should stop broadcasting but keep the licenses.

2. DirecTV Says Costs for ATSC 3.0 Transition Would be ‘Onerous’

American Television Alliance tells FCC that these costs would produce ‘no benefits whatsoever’ for pay TV operator’s subscribers.

3. Carr Weighs in on Disney, YouTube Dispute

“People should have the right to watch the programming they paid for — including football” the FCC chair said in a X post.

4. ABC Takes `Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Off the Air Indefinitely

The network made the move after FCC Chair Carr attacked the late night show for “sick” comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk and threatened licenses of stations who aired it.

5. Nagravision, Broadpeak Partner on Sports Piracy Solution

Collaboration gives sports rights holders and broadcasters the ability to detect, identify, and disrupt piracy in real-time

6. LPTV Broadcasters: Costs of ATSC 3.0 Transition Could Force `Many’ Stations Out of Business

In an FCC filing opposing the NAB’s plans to sunset ATSC broadcasts, the LPTVBA said broadcasters should not be forced to convert to ATSC 3.0.

7. Nexstar’s ABC Affiliates To Preempt `Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

Nexstar joined Sinclair not airing the show’s return on ABC on Sept. 23 but says it continues to have “productive” talks with Disney about the future.

8. FCC Commissioner Gomez Blasts ABC for Suspending Jimmy Kimmel

She called ABC’s decision a “cowardly corporate capitulation” to threats from the FCC to suspend broadcast licenses that have no legal basis in “facts or the law”.

9. 50 State Broadcasting Associations Pass Resolution Backing ATSC 1.0 Sunset

Resolution supports FCC ‘establishing a clear, industry-wide date-certain transition plan for the full deployment of Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0) as well as a sunset date for ATSC 1.0’.

10. U.S. Appeals Court Vacates FCC’s Top-Four Station Ownership Rule

NAB, FCC chair Brendan Carr applaud 8th Circuit’s ruling overturning FCC rules that station groups can’t own more than one of the four most-watched TV stations in a market

11. FCC Restores Accidentally Deleted ATSC 3.0 Rules

The agency has restored and recodified certain rules involving reporting requirements in a new Order.

12. Gray Media to Acquire Block Communications TV Stations for $80 Million

Deal is another example of how station groups are betting that FCC deregulation will open up a wave of deals and consolidation.

13. Pearl TV Doubles Down on ‘National Security Threat’ Posed by SiliconDust’s 3.0 Tuners

In comments to the FCC, large broadcast station groups reiterated that the manufacturer uses a Huawei chip.

14. Weigel Broadcasting Pushes Back on Proposals for ATSC Sunset

In a meeting with FCC staff representatives of the broadcaster opposed the NAB’s plans for a “flash cut” from ATSC to ATSC 3.0.

15. FCC Approves Review of Broadcast Ownership Rules

NPRM to look at local television and radio ownership rules that limit the number of stations a single entity can own in a local market.

16. NBCUniversal Blasts Idea of Two-Tiered Station Ownership Rules

FCC filing said that there should not be two separate ownership caps for network O&Os and other TV station groups.

17. FCC to Vote on Accelerating ATSC 3.0 Transition at October Meeting

Commission will act on whether to propose shutting down 1.0 by 2030.

18. NAB: Ownership Caps Have Created a ‘True Emergency for TV Broadcasters’

‘The record shows that the need for TV broadcasters to gain scale now has become an emergency,’ the group told the FCC.

19. FCC to Lift Freeze on Applications for New LPTV, TV Translator Stations

The move is part of a phased process running into 2026 that will also lift the current freeze on major changes for Class A television, low power television and TV translator stations and permits.

20. ATSC 3.0: ‘I Can’t Imagine Anyone Defending Our Current Adoption Strategy’

The tasks of defining and socializing NextGen’s vision require a “break glass” resolve we haven’t seen or needed in a while.

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