Hollywood’s Original Fin-Syn

Trump is considering a plan to revive the Nixon-era rules that once barred CBS, NBC, and ABC from owning the programs that they aired—and adding streamers like Netflix to the sanctions list. The president probably doesn’t have that power, but as his former antitrust chief told me, “Has that ever stopped Trump?”

It’s now a conservative whispering in Trump’s ear about reviving a regulatory relic: That may explain why some in Hollywood are scoffing at Voight’s plan, shrugging it off with the excuse that streaming regulation would require an act of Congress. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Eriq Gardner

May 13, 2025

When I first read Jon Voight’s plan to rescue Hollywood, I’ll admit that I felt some shock. Not because he’s stumping for pie-in-the-sky tax incentives for domestic production—everyone in town wants that. Nor because he’s calling for tariffs, which might be ludicrous, but nevertheless rest comfortably beside Diet Coke and gauche interior design on Donald Trump’s shortlist of enduring passions. No, what stopped me was Voight’s call to revive the long-buried “fin-syn” rules.