Disney Sues The FCC Over Threat To ABC Broadcast Licenses

Disney sued the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to stop the agency from reviewing the broadcast licenses of eight ABC-owned TV stations ahead of schedule. The company claims the government is violating its First Amendment right to free speech.

The FCC, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, moved to speed up the renewal process for the stations in April. These licenses were originally set to expire between 2028 and 2031. Under the new review, the stations must prove they serve the public interest, which includes an FCC investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

The agency is also looking into the daytime talk show “The View” and recently criticized ABC for deciding not to air a primetime speech from President Donald Trump on its main network.

In the lawsuit, Disney stated that the Trump administration is targeting the network over its coverage and opinions.

“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 wrote in the complaint.

The company added: “In prosecuting the Administration’s campaign against free speech on network television, the Commission fights on several fronts using its expansive regulatory powers. 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.”

Disney plans to ask a judge for an emergency order to freeze the FCC’s actions while the lawsuit moves forward.

“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,” the legal filing said.

The lawsuit comes after repeated public clashes between the administration and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, though the FCC did not mention Kimmel by name in its official paperwork. Disney said it has handed over more than 13,000 pages of documents to the agency despite disagreeing with the demands.

“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 stated. “Each day that the proceeding continues, ABC suffers continued First Amendment harm. 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.”

The eight stations facing the early review are WABC-TV in New York, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WLS-TV in Chicago, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, KTRK-TV in Houston, KGO-TV in San Francisco, KFSN-TV in Fresno, and WTVD in Durham, North Carolina.

The FCC defended its review process in a statement, arguing that stations using public airwaves must follow federal rules.

“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,” an FCC spokesperson said. “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.”