News broadcast giants that have curried favor with President Donald Trump and disseminated right-wing talking points are now urging the administration to eliminate rules holding back their monopolization of local and national TV stations, under the guise of competition with Big Tech companies, according to documents reviewed by the Lever.

Amid a multimillion-dollar lobbying and media blitz on the matter, the companies could find an ally in the country’s top communications regulator, Brendan Carr, who championed abolishing regulations limiting corporate ownership of local news stations in a Project 2025 chapter he authored that advocated for gutting the agency he now leads.

As Trump continues his crackdown on media outlets that he considers a threat, experts warn that ending the broadcast ownership caps could erode local news’ trustworthiness by allowing their parent companies to push highly partisan news stories.