Disney and ABC sued the FCC, calling an early licence review a retaliatory campaign
Eight ABC-owned stations were told to renew years early. The licences were not due until 2028.
The Walt Disney Company and ABC sued the US Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday in federal court in Washington. The complaint calls the FCC's early review of eight ABC-owned television stations a "retaliatory campaign" against the network's speech.
Those stations, in markets including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, were not due for licence renewal until 2028 at the earliest. In April the FCC, chaired by Brendan Carr, ordered them to file early, and gave them 30 days for paperwork that usually takes months. Disney's lawyers, Beth Wilkinson and Paul Clement, called the order unprecedented. The FCC had not required an early renewal in decades.
Carr says the review is about Disney's diversity practices, and about whether ABC is operating in the "public interest." The timeline is harder to ignore. The order landed after Donald Trump went after Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about Melania Trump, and after Kimmel's brief 2025 suspension following Carr's public pressure. Trump has posted that late-night hosts are "almost 100% Negative" toward him and asked whether licences should "be terminated." The FCC has also opened an equal-time case against The View. Disney says the show has not booked a political candidate since 2 February, and has held back clips it would otherwise have aired.
ABC wants a temporary restraining order. Carr told NBC the case would be "meritless." An FCC spokesperson accused Disney of "disinformation." Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the commission, said she was glad Disney had "shown courage."
Broadcast licences on the public airwaves are supposed to be dull, eight-year paperwork. Revoking one is almost unheard of. Using the threat of one to shape what a network puts on air is the whole fight. Disney's new chief, Josh D'Amaro, told CNBC the company would "stand up to what we believe is journalistic integrity" and would not be "told how to run that side of our business."
I would not pretend this is only about eight local stations. Disney's filing says ABC is the visible target and that the message is for every broadcaster in the country. If a court lets the early review run, other owners will read the incentive clearly.
The district court in Washington has to decide whether to freeze the early-renewal process. Carr has said the FCC has not yet made a final decision on the licences. That is the point of going to court now, before the agency does.