License revocations are rare; last tied to programming was in 1969
Disney’s ABC has sued the Federal Communications Commission, alleging the agency’s efforts to challenge its broadcast licenses and regulate its talk show “The View” are illegal and amount to an effort to quash speech the Trump administration finds objectionable. In a suit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., the network is asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt the FCC’s license renewal process, and it has requested a hearing from the D.C. Circuit Court.
In the suit, ABC said: “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 said the administration “has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.” In a separate line from the filing, Disney said it had no other option than to sue, facing “no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the Administration’s demands.” Walt Disney shares fell 3.14%.
The dispute began last year, when FCC Chairman Brendan Carr launched a probe into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to determine whether they violated the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination. Executives inside ABC told The Wall Street Journal they believed the DEI probe was really a response to commentary on some of the network’s shows, including the late-night program “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and the daytime show “The View,” both of which have been harsh critics of the Trump administration.
Those suspicions escalated in April when, shortly after Kimmel made disparaging remarks about Trump and the president called for the host to be fired, the FCC said it was launching an early license renewal review for ABC’s eight local broadcast stations.
Carr has said the license renewal review isn’t about speech but rather about the company’s DEI initiatives. ABC has said Carr’s FCC is trying to control who the network can have on its shows; Carr countered that the agency isn’t trying to control who appears on shows but is “enforcing the provisions” passed by Congress.
ABC argued in the suit that if the FCC were to go forward with a license renewal hearing inside the agency, “an adverse outcome is all but guaranteed.”
The FCC this year also launched a separate inquiry into whether “The View” qualifies for an exemption from equal-time rules because it is considered a bona fide news program. The rules apply to radio and broadcast television and require non-news shows that have political candidates on during elections to also bring on their opponents. “The View” previously received an exemption from the FCC. Such a finding could make it more challenging for a broadcast network show to have candidates on its programs, since it would have to provide equal time to all opponents no matter how viable their campaigns are.
Broadcast license reviews and revocations are rare. The last time the FCC revoked a broadcast license related to a station’s programming was in 1969, when a Jackson, Mississippi station lost its license for defending segregation on the air. In 1980, the FCC revoked the broadcast licenses of media company RKO for business misconduct and lack of candor.
The FCC and Carr didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.