Disney is urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate petitions asking it to deny the broadcasting licenses up for early renewal at ABC.

Disney FCC Filing

In a new 119-page filing to the FCC, Disney and ABC argue that President Trump and his administration are attempting to punish the networks for acts of free speech. “For years, President Trump has expressly demanded that the Commission revoke ABC’s broadcast licenses for speech he dislikes,” the filing reads in part. “Since his appointment, Chairman [Brendan] Carr has subsequently opened all manner of investigations and issued a slew of burdensome investigatory requests.”

The filing goes on: “For the first time in history, the Federal Communications Commission has ordered an entire group of local television stations commonly owned with a broadcast network to undergo simultaneous license renewal proceedings well before their current licenses expire. That makes these proceedings extraordinary and unprecedented.”

The company’s filing outlines that “there is no question” why the ABC stations are being targeted for possible license revocation because the current Presidential Administration does not like what is being said in programs on the stations. Later, the filing reads, “The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price.”

At the time of writing, over 153,000 filings have been posted to the FCC website regarding the ABC early license renewal situation. ABC has indicated that over 95% of the comments are in support of the stations, per Reuters.

Back in April, it was reported that the FCC was ordering reviews of eight Disney-owned ABC stations two years earlier than expected. The FCC issues eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations and has not revoked a license in over 40 years. The Disney licenses were not scheduled for review until October 2028.

In April, the FCC said early renewal was related to its investigation of Disney’s DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives. However, the early renewal order came one day after President Donald Trump called for the firing of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over his “widow” Melania Trump joke.

Just the other day, former FCC commissioners and staff signed a filing in opposition to the early license review. That group included Mark Fowler, a member of the Republican Party who served as chairman from 1981 to 1987. The filing said, in part, that the early license review was “an assault on free speech ⁠disguised ​as ​regulatory process.”

Multiple U.S. Senators previously called for the FCC to rescind its early broadcast license renewal order against Disney, calling the order “the latest and most extreme step in your use of the FCC’s licensing authority as a cudgel against broadcasters whose editorial choices displease the President.”

This is not the first time ABC has called out the FCC for overreach. In May, ABC accused the FCC of violating its First Amendment rights after a minor dispute over the talk show, The View.

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