Report: FCC Gives Soros a 'Shortcut' to Purchase Hundreds of Radio Stations

Facts

• The New York Post has reported that the majority-Democrat US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week approved billionaire investor and left-wing political donor George Soros' purchase of over 200 radio stations that broadcast to 165M people across the country.^[1]
• One of the FCC's two Republicans, Brendan Carr, alleged the acquisition violates a rule against more than 25% foreign ownership of US radio stations, claiming that the agency's majority bypassed the usual national security review of foreign ownership.^[2][3]
• The agency's other Republican commissioner, Nathan Simington, also alleged they were only given a '48-hour notice' of the decision.^[4]
• The Soros Management Fund, which in February used foreign investments to purchase $400M worth of radio station owner Audacy's debt, reportedly asked for the national security review exception, which typically takes up to a year to complete.^[5]
• Testifying on the matter before a House Oversight Committee hearing, Carr said that while the foreign ownership in this case is 'probably no big deal,' it's 'something that's never been done before at the commission level.'^[6]
• When asked for comment by the New York Post, an FCC spokesperson stated that 'no decision is final until the Commission releases it, which we have not.'^[1]

Sources: ^[1]New York Post, ^[2]KECI, ^[3]FCC, ^[4]FOX News, ^[5]The Post Millennial and ^[6]Realclearpolitics.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Youtube. Democrats giving special favors to Democratic donors is bad enough, but what's worse is that the FCC made the decision at the same time it was slowing the rollout of internet access to rural Americans. The Biden administration is handing talk radio over to left-wing billionaires while keeping rural, conservative Americans completely in the dark.
• Narrative B, as provided by Daily News. This acquisition isn't the nefarious scheme critics are making it out to be. While Soros may attempt to use radio stations for some political reasons, the main reason for this — and the one that's most likely to succeed — is to use it as a tax write-off. Audacy radio stations don't have much of a presence in big city markets, so Soros won't be moving the needle much.

Predictions