At a December gala hosted by President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center, two FCC commissioners received complimentary tickets from Vital, the parent company of the event’s broadcast sponsor CBS.
Tickets worth thousands given to regulators
The black‑tie celebration honored Sylvester Stallone, Kiss and Gloria Gaynor and is traditionally reserved for donors who contribute at least $75,000 to the Center. According to ethics disclosures obtained by the outlet, Commissioner Olivia Trusty was given tickets valued at more than $12,000 after she cast a decisive vote approving Vital’s historic $8 billion merger with Skydance Media five months earlier.
Commissioner Brendan Carr and his wife occupied a private skybox alongside Vital CEO David Ellison and other executives. Kennedy Center guidelines list the market price for such seats at $125,000 each. Prior filings show he has accepted gifts totalling over $63,000 since his 2017 appointment.
Related: T‑Mobile acknowledges mistake, aims to restore free lines
Both commissioners are among seven FCC members who have taken tickets from CBS or its parent company in the past decade, a pattern that ethics experts say raises a clear conflict of interest. Federal rules prohibit employees from accepting gifts from entities they regulate or that seek official action from their agency.
Ethics experts criticize the practice
Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, said, “There’s no way that any top federal regulator should ever accept a gift from a regulated company with interests their work will foreseeably affect.” He added that the appearance of such gifts “is terrible” and threatens public trust.
Virginia Canter, a former ethics lawyer for multiple federal agencies, described the actions as “shocking” and “disturbing,” questioning what was thought when the tickets were accepted. They argue the FCC’s impartiality is compromised and that the commissioners should recuse themselves from any pending decisions on the Vital‑Skydance merger.
The FCC’s review of the merger is one of the final hurdles facing a historic $110 billion consolidation of two of the five largest film studios in Hollywood. The deal would unite Vital Skydance with Warner Bros., bringing under the control of one company Vital+ and HBO Max streaming services; CBS and CNN; and scores of other major broadcast channels, cable networks, and digital platforms.
Related: Enterprises struggle with slow patching processes
Regulatory outlook and potential legal challenges
Legal analysts note that the acceptance of such high‑value tickets may become a focal point in upcoming court battles. The Justice Department could investigate whether the gifts violated federal ethics statutes. FCC officials have long defended the practice, claiming consistency across administrations, but Shaub dismissed that rationale as “outrageous.”
Historically, seven of the ten commissioners who served since 2016 accepted tickets valued at more than $260,000, according to the report. Even former chair Jessica Rosenworcel, appointed by President Joe Biden, attended the event regularly. Only one commissioner, Nathan Simington, declined all such invitations, stating they “weren’t my cup of tea.”
External oversight bodies, including the Office of Government Ethics, have issued memos clarifying that free attendance is permissible only when the event is widely attended and directly furthers agency interests. Critics argue the Kennedy Center gala, with its celebrity performances and private receptions, does not meet that standard.
Related: Earth’s spacetime twist measured with high accuracy
The review of the merger remains a key step before the broader consolidation with Warner Bros. The agency must weigh the potential impact on competition, national security—given involvement of sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi—and consumer choice across multiple media platforms.
Consumers care whether regulators can make unbiased decisions after accepting lavish gifts from the companies they oversee. If the merger proceeds without clear safeguards, it could concentrate control over a significant share of American entertainment and news content, limiting diversity of viewpoints and possibly affecting pricing for viewers.
As the FCC continues its assessment, ethics officers have not released the authorizations that permitted the December tickets, and senior officials have declined to comment. The unresolved disclosure adds another layer of uncertainty to a merger already under intense scrutiny from both domestic and international regulators.
