By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr on Thursday opened a probe into diversity practices at Verizon and raised the telecommunications company’s ongoing effort to purchase Frontier Communications.
Carr, a Republican designated by President Donald Trump last month, earlier this month told NBC News-parent Comcast he was opening a similar probe into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Verizon is awaiting FCC approval for its $9.6 billion purchase of Frontier.
“In order to aid the FCC’s resolution of these matters, please reach out to the agency personnel that have been working on Verizon’s pending transactions at the FCC,” Carr wrote. “They are the FCC personnel most familiar with Verizon’s operations due to their merger review activity.”
Carr criticized Verizon for its continued promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Verizon said in a statement, “we are aware of the chairman’s concerns. We look forward to engaging with the FCC staff on this issue. Verizon has always focused on having the best talent to deliver the best experiences to our customers.”
Carr said in his letter to Comcast earlier this month that the commission would take “fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act… including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI.”
Shortly after taking office on January 20, Trump — who designated Carr as chair — issued sweeping executive orders to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the United States and pressured the private sector to join the initiative.
Carr is investigating numerous media companies.
The FCC is reviewing whether a CBS News “60 Minutes” interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris violates “news distortion” rules.
Paramount is seeking FCC approval for an $8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media.
In January, Carr reinstated complaints about how Walt Disney’s ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump and NBC letting Harris appear on “Saturday Night Live” before the election.
The FCC, an independent federal agency, issues eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations, not networks.
(Reporting by David Shepardson)
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