How the FCC stopped CBS and Stephen Colbert | The Verge

PodcastsAIPolicyThe speech police came for ColbertOn The Vergecast: the FCC’s chilling effect, Apple’s AI gadgets, and Tesla’s robotaxi record.On The Vergecast: the FCC’s chilling effect, Apple’s AI gadgets, and Tesla’s robotaxi record.by David PierceFeb 19, 2026, 3:08 PM UTCLinkShareGiftDavid Pierce is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.Generally speaking, arcane and mostly unenforced FCC rules are not the province of late night talk shows. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr seems intent on changing that, though; not long after causing a ruckus that briefly took Jimmy Kimmel off the air, his vague threats appear to have been enough to convince CBS to tell Stephen Colbert not to air an interview. Which, of course, became a whole thing.Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here.On this episode of The Vergecast (which we recorded and published a day early both because of the news and because Nilay has a vacation to go on), David and Nilay open the show with an extra-large installment of Brendan Carr is a Dummy. We talk through the timeline of the Colbert / CBS back-and-forth, once again attempt to explain how the equal time rule actually works, and wonder exactly how far Carr’s chilling effect will be allowed to go.After that, we turn to some gadg...