FCC Democrat Majority ‘Fast-Tracked’ George Soros Scheme to Control 200 Radio Stations

The Democrat majority at the FCC “fast-tracked” a deal to allow leftist billionaire George Soros to acquire more than 200 radio stations despite Republican objections.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules stipulate that foreign company ownership of American radio stations cannot exceed 25 percent; Soros reportedly took foreign investment to make his bid for the 200 Audacy radio stations, which covers 40 media markets, and asked the commission to make an exception to the normal review porcess.

This is reportedly the first time a fast-tracked deal has gone through the commission without a typical national security review process, which normally would take up to a year or more.

Soros has reportedly put $400 million into Audacy this year to gain control over the radio network; Audacy hosts a few conservative shows such as Sean Hannity, Dana Loesch, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, and Erick Erickson.

“The idea that George Soros is buying hundreds of local radio stations right before a national election and will keep broadcasting Sean Hannity and other conservative talk radio hosts on Audacy is not credible,” one source told the New York Post.

An FCC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “no decision is final until the Commission releases it, which we have not.”

“The Commission has a long-standing process for reviewing transactions that involve emergence from bankruptcy,” the spokesperson said.

Fox News continued:

Some inside the FCC object to the notion the move was some sort of shortcut or “fast-tracked” for Soros, pointing to a similar process used to under the previous administration in the bankruptcy proceedings of Cumulus Media in 2018, iHeart Media in 2019, Liberman Television in 2019, Fusion Connect in 2019, Windstream Holdings in 2020, America-CV Station Group in 2021, and Alpha Media in 2021.

However, Trump-nominated commissioner Nathan Simington said, “The FCC has a practice of permitting entities temporarily to exceed foreign ownership caps when emerging from bankruptcy—and the majority, over my objection, did so here. But that wasn’t the only way in which this item was ‘fast-tracked.’

“Commission leadership tried to approve the item at the staff level, with nothing but a 48-hour notice to Commissioners on a summer Friday. There is almost no factual record on the item because there was almost no attempt to do a real public interest analysis,” Simington added.

He remarked, “Not a single Commissioner outside of the Chairwoman was invited to even think about the issue until staff was directed to handle it on our behalf without our votes. That’s the true ‘fast-track.’”