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."
"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.
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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.
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."
This is a developing story, more to come…