{"id":4071,"date":"2026-08-18T13:12:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4071"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:12:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:12:01","slug":"disney-and-abc-sue-fcc-seeking-to-stop-early-license-renewal-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4071","title":{"rendered":"Disney and ABC sue FCC, seeking to stop early license renewal process"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Walt Disney Company, ABC and a number of its stations on Tuesday sued the Federal Communications Commission, seeking to stop an early license renewal process that they say is an attack by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Read more Florida set to carry out 13th execution this year in nation\u2019s busiest death chamber<\/a><\/p>\n

In April, the FCC ordered Disney\u2019s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule. That order came amid a probe into ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d program, as well as a long-running investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion practices at Disney.<\/p>\n

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All eight of the ABC stations whose licenses were put in jeopardy by the FCC are part of Tuesday\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The move from the FCC also came after the White House and President Donald Trump himself assailed ABC late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel for a joke about the first lady Melania Trump.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit specifically cites Trump\u2019s own social media posts, including one in which he complained that late-night TV hosts \u201care almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump\u201d and asked if broadcast licenses should \u201cbe terminated?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActing through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,\u201d the suit states. \u201cThat campaign began in this Administration\u2019s earliest days and has only intensified since.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In September 2025, Disney pulled Kimmel off the air briefly after pressure from FCC chairman Brendan Carr. Kimmel had made a comment about the motivations of the man who authorities say fatally shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel also criticized Republicans for how they responded to Kirk\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, Disney describes the FCC action as an \u201cexistential threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Commission issued an unprecedented order requiring the Stations to file early applications to renew their licenses\u2014years before any of their licenses would have come up for renewal in the ordinary course and allowing only thirty days to file applications which ordinarily take months to prepare,\u201d attorneys Beth Wilkinson and Paul Clement write in the civil complaint.<\/p>\n

The suit requests that the D.C. District court \u201cimmediately\u201d stop the FCC \u201cfrom taking or threatening to take any action\u201d against Disney and ABC stations \u201cin relation to the early license renewal applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Judge orders release of woman accused of vandalism at World War II Memorial<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC also requested a \u201cspeedy hearing\u201d from the court, \u201cand ask this Court to enter a temporary restraining order.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FCC did not immediately return a request for comment from NBC News.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In July, Carr argued that the FCC\u2019s orders to Disney and ABC were about operating in \u201cthe public interest\u201d rather than retaliation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf broadcasters don\u2019t like that, that\u2019s okay,\u201d Carr told CNBC. \u201cThey can become a cable channel, they can become a podcast, they can stream online. But if you want to uniquely be on the public\u2019s airwaves, you have to comply with those obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disney and ABC have also argued to the FCC that \u201cThe View\u201d is a legitimate news program, and have pointed to an FCC staff ruling on the matter in 2002. <\/p>\n

Carr also rejected that argument. \u201cThe 2002 [ruling] was a staff-level decision that was based on representations made in the record all the way back in 2002, and so there\u2019s a question of, is the program still the same today as it was back then?\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, newly-installed Disney chief executive officer Josh D\u2019Amaro said that the company was \u201cprincipled\u201d in its fight against the FCC\u2019s moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to stand up to what we believe is journalistic integrity,\u201d D\u2019Amaro told CNBC. \u201cAnd we\u2019re not going to be told how to run that side of our business,\u201d he added referring to the ABC broadcast network.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cI like what we do. We tell incredible stories. I think we do it well,\u201d said D\u2019Amaro. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to stay committed to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Ukraine aims a drone blitz at Moscow while Russian missiles kill 10 in a Ukrainian village<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Walt Disney Company and ABC sued the FCC, seeking to stop an early license renewal process that they say is an attack by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDisney and ABC sue FCC, seeking to stop early license renewal process - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4071\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disney and ABC sue FCC, seeking to stop early license renewal process - 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