ABC Sues FCC Over ‘Retaliatory’ Challenge of Eight of Its Broadcast Licenses

ABC and its parent company, the Walt Disney Company, are suing the Federal Communications Commission over its decision to start the early license renewal process for eight ABC-owned stations, alleging the move is retaliatory. In April, the FCC directed the eight stations to submit license renewal applications early. The FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, said that the order was in response to Disney failing to turn over documents about its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. However, critics did not believe that explanation as the move came just days after ABC’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, made a joke about First Lady Melania Trump having a “glow” like an “expectant widow.” That comment was made just days before a gunman tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. President Trump has repeatedly said that the FCC should revoke ABC’s broadcast license over its coverage. “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,” ABC writes in its lawsuit.“Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit asks the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to issue an injunction blocking the early license renewal process. “The consequences of the Administration’s campaign against free speech reach well beyond ABC,” the complaint reads. “If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government. In such a world, the press could in no way be described as free.”The FCC did not respond to The New York Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. In December 2024, Disney reached a $15 million settlement to resolve Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against ABC after one of its star hosts, George Stephanopoulos, said the president had been found liable for rape. The comment stemmed from columnist E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against Mr. Trump. In 2023, a jury found the president responsible for sexual abuse, not rape. While ABC settled Mr. Trump’s lawsuit, the network has taken a more aggressive stance now that it is facing pressure from the federal government. The network is also facing an FCC investigation into whether “The View” violated the equal time rule when it invited a Democratic Texas Senate candidate, James Talarico, on the show for an interview without offering an equivalent opportunity to his primary opponent, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, on the same day or within a few days of that interview. ABC has called that investigation “unprecedented, beyond the Commission’s authority, and counterproductive to the Commission’s stated goal of encouraging free speech and open political discussion.” The network also launched an ad campaign to enlist viewers’ assistance, asking them to submit comments to the FCC telling the commission that “The View” is a “bona fide news” program, which would exempt the show from the equal time rule. The pushback comes after questions arose in the first few months of Mr. Trump’s second term about whether news outlets would try to placate the Trump administration and settle lawsuits or fight back. Last year, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, paid $16 million to settle Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the Tiffany Network over its editing of Vice President Harris’ October 2024 interview with “60 Minutes.” Since that settlement, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC have said they intend to fight lawsuits brought against them by Mr. Trump. The Associated Press sued the Trump administration after it was excluded from the White House pool because it refused to use the name the “Gulf of America.”

ABC Sues FCC Over ‘Retaliatory’ Challenge of Eight of Its Broadcast Licenses

ABC Sues FCC Over ‘Retaliatory’ Challenge of Eight of Its Broadcast Licenses

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