The news: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under new Chairman Brendan Carr, may block mergers involving companies with DEI policies, which he says conflict with the public interest. “Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” Carr said Friday.

• This shift could impact billions in pending deals, including Paramount’s merger with Skydance, Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier Communications, and T-Mobile’s purchase of US Cellular assets.
• Carr has already warned Verizon and Comcast about their DEI programs, while AT&T has preemptively rolled back diversity initiatives. Paramount, meanwhile, announced last month it would halt race, ethnicity, and gender-based hiring targets to align with Trump administration policy.