Broadcaster describes US regulator’s actions as ‘existential threat’ and threat to free speech
Disney is suing the Federal Communications Commission over its decision to force an early review of licenses for more than half a dozen of its ABC stations.
The FCC ordered Disney to file early licence renewals for eight of its ABC channels in April, in the wake of calls from US president Donald Trump to fire the broadcaster’s late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
The stations’ licences had not be due for renewal until October 2028.
The rare move from the FCC, headed by Trump-appointed Brendan Carr, followed comments from the talkshow host that referred to the president’s wife looking like an “expectant widow”.
Days later, a gunman stormed a press gala dinner attended by Trump and his wife Melania, prompting the US president to call for Kimmel to be fired.
The FCC is also investigation ABC talkshow The View, while Carr - who dismissed any link between the timing of the renewal and Trump’s demand for Kimmel to be fired - has been a frequent critic of Disney and its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Disney and ABC are now suing the FCC through a district court in Washington, arguing that the order violates First Amendment free speech rights and calling for a temporary restraining order on the license renewal call.
In its lawsuit, Disney said the Trump government had “waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.”
It added that it targets ABC because it “refuses to bow to the administration’s demands” and described the FCC’s actions as an ”existential threat”.
The lawsuit continued: “Again and again, the administration has attacked ABC’s speech - the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air.”
It said that while ABC is “the visible target… the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country and the ultimate cost is borne by the press as a whole.”
The White House is yet to comment on the lawsuit.
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