The Walt Disney Co. and ABC have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), aiming to stop an early license renewal process.
“Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the lawsuit states. “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.”
“The Commission issued an unprecedented order requiring the Stations to file early applications to renew their licenses—years 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,” it adds.
Earlier this year, the FCC ordered Disney to file broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule. The order came as the FCC weighed opening a review into Disney’s licenses.
The order reads, “The FCC has been investigating The Walt Disney Company, its American Broadcasting Company, and its subsidiaries (collectively, ‘Disney’s ABC’) for compliance with its obligations as a licensed broadcaster,” Specifically, the FCC has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.”
“The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard2 is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,” the order adds. “Therefore, Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days–in other words, by May 28, 2026.”
