FCC Chair Brendan Carr quite literally stepped into a brewing battle over Yankees airtime this weekend. The local-sports broadcaster YES Network has been battling Comcast over carriage fees, and an uneasy truce that avoided a blackout in March is set to expire this fall.
Carr — who is in his own fight with Comcast, over the company’s diversity policies — had seemingly sided with YES, saying that his agency can “step in and address claims of discriminatory conduct.” This weekend, he was invited to throw the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. (“Pretty good,” as rated by a YES color commentator.) Yankees president Randy Levine is friendly with Trump, of whose DEI bidding Carr has been among the most enthusiastic federal enforcers.