Disney and ABC sue FCC over early license renewals

The Walt Disney Company and ABC sued the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, asking a federal court to block what they describe as a retaliatory effort by the Trump administration to threaten the broadcast licenses of eight ABC-owned television stations.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of the eight local stations, challenges an April FCC order requiring the stations to submit license renewal applications years ahead of schedule. Disney and ABC say the order is tied to the administration’s objections to ABC programming, including “The View,” and to broader investigations involving the company.

“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 suit states. “That campaign began in this Administration’s earliest days and has only intensified since.”

The complaint says the FCC issued “an unprecedented order” forcing the stations to file early applications “years before any of their licenses would have come up for renewal in the ordinary course” and gave them only 30 days to prepare filings that “ordinarily take months.” Attorneys Beth Wilkinson and Paul Clement, representing Disney and ABC, called the action an “existential threat.”

The companies asked the court to immediately stop the FCC “from taking or threatening to take any action” against the stations related to the early renewal applications. ABC also requested a speedy hearing and a temporary restraining order.

The FCC did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

The dispute comes amid an FCC probe into ABC’s “The View” and a long-running investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion practices at Disney, according to NBC News. Disney and ABC have told the FCC that “The View” is a legitimate news program and cited a 2002 FCC staff ruling on the matter.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has rejected that argument. “The 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’s a question of, is the program still the same today as it was back then?” Carr said.

Carr has also said the FCC’s actions are about broadcasters’ duty to operate in “the public interest,” not retaliation. “If broadcasters don’t like that, that’s okay,” Carr told CNBC in July. “They can become a cable channel, they can become a podcast, they can stream online. But if you want to uniquely be on the public’s airwaves, you have to comply with those obligations.”

The lawsuit cites President Donald Trump’s social media posts, including one in which he said late-night TV hosts “are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump” and asked whether broadcast licenses should “be terminated?” NBC News reported that the FCC action also followed criticism from the White House and Trump of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about first lady Melania Trump.

In September 2025, Disney briefly pulled Kimmel off the air after pressure from Carr, according to NBC News. Kimmel had commented on the motivations of the man authorities say fatally shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk and criticized Republicans over their response to Kirk’s killing.

The Guardian reported that ABC filed the lawsuit while awaiting the FCC’s decision on the renewal requests, or the possibility of a hearing on their merits. The outlet also reported that conservative groups, including the Center for American Rights and the Media Research Center, filed petitions urging the FCC to deny the renewals, arguing that ABC’s journalism was politically biased.

Late last month, The Guardian reported, former FCC officials from Democratic and Republican administrations warned in a filing that the agency was sending a “chilling message” to broadcasters by forcing ABC to apply early.

Disney’s newly installed chief executive, Josh D’Amaro, told CNBC on Friday that the company was “principled” in its fight. “We’re going to stand up to what we believe is journalistic integrity,” D’Amaro said. “And we’re not going to be told how to run that side of our business.”