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Disney sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday, seeking to block the agency’s early broadcast license renewal proceedings for ABC stations in a lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr called for early renewal of eight ABC-owned stations’ licenses in April. The Disney-owned ABC stations’ licenses were originally scheduled to be renewed between 2028 and 2031, but the FCC expedited the process amid ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
The eight stations must demonstrate they have been operating in the public interest as part of an ongoing look at Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. In the lawsuit, ABC said the Trump administration “has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.”
ABC ACCUSES FCC OF ‘RETALIATION’ AS FEDERAL AGENCY THREATENS TO REVOKE DISNEY’S BROADCASTING LICENSES
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg. (JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)
“That campaign began in this Administration’s earliest days and has only intensified since. Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech—the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air. Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech,” Disney’s legal team wrote in the complaint.
“In prosecuting the Administration’s campaign against free speech on network television, the Commission fights on several fronts using its expansive regulatory powers,” the complaint continued. “Facing this existential threat, Plaintiffs have no choice but to seek redress from the judicial branch for the Administration’s blatant retaliation for their First Amendment speech.”
ABC is also expected to file a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
“This case boils down to a simple question: can the Administration use its control over the federal regulatory apparatus to punish a media organization for editorial decisions and news coverage it dislikes? Because the First Amendment provides a clear answer—of course not—this Court’s intervention is necessary to stop the Federal Communications Commission’s extraordinary assault on free speech,” an excerpt from the motion for TRO and Preliminary Injunction stated.
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has had a beef with Kimmel, who lampoons the president on a regular basis and whose controversial “expectant widow” joke earlier this year resulted in first lady Melania Trump calling for him to be fired. Despite ABC arguing the action is retaliatory, the FCC filing did not specifically mention Kimmel.
The FCC has also launched a probe into ABC daytime show “The View,” and Carr recently took exception to the Disney-owned network declining to air Trump’s primetime address on linear television. Disney said that despite repeatedly objecting to the FCC’s demands, the company has cooperated with the agency’s investigations, producing to date more than 13,000 pages of documents.
CONSERVATIVE GROUPS URGE FCC TO BACK OFF ABC LICENSE REVIEW, WARNING IT COULD HURT RIGHT-LEANING MEDIA
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr launched an investigation into ABC’s “The View” over the equal opportunities requirement. (John McDonnell/Getty Images)
“The pressure exerted by the Administration’s mounting campaign of retaliation against ABC has been deeply felt throughout the company. The campaign is also calculated to operate in terrorem upon the rest of the industry: ABC is the visible target and suffers the most immediate harm, but the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country, and the ultimate cost is borne by the press as a whole,” Disney wrote.
“Each day that the proceeding continues, ABC suffers continued First Amendment harm,” the company added. “The FCC’s demand for early renewal applications reveals its intent to either hold a hearing to deny the applications or simply to subject Plaintiffs to months—and likely years—of onerous litigation and regulatory uncertainty. Either way, the agency succeeds at continuing to punish Plaintiffs.”
KFSN-TV in Fresno; KABC-TV in Los Angeles; KGO-TV in San Francisco; WLS-TV in Chicago; WABC-TV in New York; WTVD in Durham, N.C.; WPVI-TV in Philadelphia; and KTRK-TV in Houston are the Disney-owned stations in question.
CONSERVATIVE WATCHDOG TELLS FCC THAT ‘THE VIEW’ IS A DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATION, NOT A NEWS PROGRAM
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An FCC spokesperson previously issued the following statement: “For decades, Americans of all stripes have been subsidizing broadcast media to the tune of many billions of dollars by giving TV stations free use of a valuable, public resource — the airwaves. In exchange, broadcasters are required by law to operate in the public interest, not in the narrow or partisan interests of a political party.
“Broadcasters know that they are prohibited from engaging in invidious forms of DEI discrimination, that they must comply with political equal opportunity regulations and that they are barred from running broadcast hoaxes or distorting the news. The FCC is going to hold broadcasters accountable to the full extent of the law, regardless of any disinformation campaign that some of them may choose to run.”
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