Big Tech continues its censorship and deplatforming of conservative voices.
They have a monopoly on what can be seen on the internet.
And YouTube TV is now facing an investigation because it refuses to air this Christian programming.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is questioning if YouTube TV is discriminating against faith-based programming.
YouTube deliberately marginalizing faith-based content?
Any issue is YouTube’s refusal to carry Great American Family, a network wildly popular for its family-friendly and Christian content.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, in a March 7 letter to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc., and Neal Mohan, CEO of Google, cited a complaint from Great American Media alleging the Google-owned YouTube TV “deliberately marginalizes faith-based and family-friendly content.'”
Carr raised serious concerns about YouTube’s decision to exclude Great American Family from its streaming platform, even though the network is carried on other major platforms like Comcast, Cox, Hulu and FuboTV.
“[T]hese allegations of faith-based discrimination come at a time when American public discourse has experienced an unprecedented surge in censorship,” Carr wrote.
“In too many cases, tech companies silenced individuals for doing nothing more than expressing themselves online and in the digital town square. Therefore, I am writing to determine whether YouTube TV has a policy or practice that favors discrimination against faith-based channels.”
While the FCC currently has limited authority over YouTube TV, and other virtual multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), Carr pointed out that federal regulators are looking into how to expand the government’s regulatory framework to include MVPDs.
“Understanding the nature of carriage policies in the virtual MVPD sector can help inform the FCC’s approach to the broader set of regulatory issues the FCC has been called upon to address,” wrote Carr.
This situation is nothing new
Carr acknowledged that independent programmers like Great American Family often file complaints with the FCC when an “MVPD refuses to carry their channel.”
“That is nothing new. In many of these cases, it is clear that the MVPD is making a good-faith business decision based on marketplace conditions and consumer demand,” he added.
“But in the case of YouTube TV, concerns have been raised alleging that your company has a policy (secret or otherwise) that discriminates against faith-based programming.”
In response to Carr’s letter, a YouTube spokesperson released a statement saying they were willing to inform the FCC how the platform makes its business decisions, like which networks it carries, and why.
“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,” the spokesperson claimed.
But Great American Family, which has over 101,000 subscribers on YouTube, isn’t carried on YouTube TV despite being available on all major streaming services and even on DirecTV Stream.
Great American Family, headed by CEO Bill Abbott launched in 2021 as a rival to Hallmark.
It merged with faith-based Pure Flix in 2023, and launched a streaming service, Great American Pure Flix.
While some networks saw declines in 2024, Great American Family actually experienced double-digit growth.
Last November alone, the network reported a 19% increase in household viewership and a 21% rise in total viewers.
Abbott made national headlines in 2020 after he stepped down as CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, the parent company of Hallmark.
He did so after the company announced it would make an effort to produce “projects featuring LGBTQ storylines, characters, and actors.”
Abbott says Great American Family “stands apart from mainstream platforms by honoring traditional values.”
“In ‘mainstream’ entertainment, the portrayal of faith, family and country is often dismissive, caricatured or outright derisive,” he explained. “One of the qualifications that that content needs to have to air on our platforms is to be supportive and encouraging in regard to the traditions and values that are central to faith, family and country.”
