The Federal Communications Commission apparently has other concerns on its plate than the merger of Paramount and Skydance, which is currently in front of the commission for review. FCC chairman Brendan Carr has sent a letter to Google, saying that “concerns have been raised” about potential discrimination against faith-based programming at the company’s live TV streaming service YouTube TV.

Key Details:

• Carr’s queries are a response to the fact that YouTube TV doesn’t carry Great American Family channels.
• The FCC does not have the authority to force any streaming service to carry a particular kind of content.
• The inquiry is a continuation of Carr’s belief that major media companies have been censoring certain types of content for years.

Carr’s letter is based in a communication received by the FCC from Great American Media, which says that YouTube TV “deliberately marginalizes faith-based and family-friendly content.” At the heart of the problem would seem to be that YouTube TV doesn’t currently carry channels from GAM including its flagship channel Great American Family. In addition, GAM’s cable channels include Great American Faith & Living and Great American Adventures. The company also operates the Great American Pure Flix streaming service.

“Great American Media states that its Great American Family network is the second fastest-growing channel in cable television and, while they are carried on a range of cable and streaming services, including Comcast, Cox, Hulu, FuboTV, and DirecTV stream, YouTube TV refuses to carry them,” Carr wrote.

YouTube TV does not have any legal responsibility to carry Great American Family channels, as the FCC currently does not have authority over virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs). However, the Department of Justice is currently looking to compel Google to sell off its Chrome internet browser as part of its efforts to address Google’s monopoly on internet searches. So, there is reason for the tech giant to be wary of any regulatory body asking questions. Customers who want to watch GAM channels can find them on a variety of other streamers, including Philo, Fubo, or [FrndlyTV].

“We welcome the opportunity to brief the FCC on YouTube TV’s subscription service and the strategic business decisions we make based on factors like user demand, operational cost and financial terms, and to reiterate that we do not have any policies that prohibit religious content,” a YouTube TV spokesperson said in response to the letter.

The FCC has no legal authority to compel YouTube TV to carry programming from GAM. Carr, as one of the authors of Project 2025, has made references to the censorship he says that big media companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have engaged in in the past. However, it has been pointed out by some lawmakers that if the FCC did try to force YouTube TV to carry more faith-based programming, it would be the one engaging in censorship.

“Far from defending the First Amendment, this is what censorship looks like: a regulator implicitly threatening private companies for their speech,” Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said last November in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter). “The FCC under Trump is prepared to become the Federal Censorship Commission. We can’t let that happen.”

The only way to stream all three over Great American Media’s channels via a live TV streaming service is with a subscription to Fubo. Even though that service is traditionally known as a sports-focused platform, Great American Family is included on its base package (as it is on Hulu + Live TV, Philo, and Frndly TV), and you can access the company’s other two channels via an $8 per month add-on. However, Fubo is the most expensive live streaming service on the market at roughly $95 per month including the regional sports fee. Then, when you include the $8 per month for the Fubo Extra package to access all of GAM’s channels, it comes in at $103 monthly.