US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw the licenses of a number of American television networks, after they refused to broadcast his speech, which he delivered on Thursday evening, on their main channels during prime time, considering that what happened was part of a “conspiracy” targeting him.
According to Reuters, NBC and ABC, which are among the three largest television networks in the United States, along with CNN, did not broadcast the speech on their main channels, which prompted Trump to direct sharp criticism at them.
In his speech, Trump focused on election security, four months before the crucial midterm elections in Congress.
Trump said that NBC and ABC announced in a rare step that they would not cover the speech, describing the two networks as spreading “fake news,” and considering that this matter required withdrawing their licenses.
Later, an ABC News spokesman explained that the network broadcast the speech on the ABC News Live platform and its radio station, without showing it on the main television channel.
An informed source also reported that NBC News broadcast Trump’s statements through its free service, “NBC News Now,” but did not broadcast the speech on its main channel, while the company refrained from commenting.
For its part, CNN announced that it would follow the speech to monitor any news developments it might contain, while providing a live broadcast on its website and the paid “CNN All Access” service.
The digital broadcast platforms of these networks usually attract a smaller audience than traditional television channels, which means that the speech did not have the same audience reach that it would have achieved if it had been broadcast on the main channels.
Trump’s threats come in light of his escalating disputes with the American media, which he constantly accuses of being biased against him and ignoring his political discourse.
