Politics

ABC Sues Trump Television Regulator Over Threats Against Broadcast License

Official Federal Communications Commission photo

Disney’s ABC filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, claiming the agency’s recent review into the company is part of a “retaliatory campaign.”

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Washington, D.C., alleges that the Trump administration’s “campaign against ABC has been building over the course of the current Administration’s second term.” The litigation comes after the FCC issued an order in April which directed Disney’s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals early, NBC News reported.

“It began in earnest when the Administration installed a Chairman who had promised to aggressively advance its agenda, and built steadily to the present inflection point when the Commission demanded that the Stations apply for license renewal years in advance,” the lawsuit claims.

ABC’s suit also alleges that the administration’s “threats to the Stations’ licenses are neither new nor off-the-cuff,” adding that President Donald Trump “has long criticized the content of ABC’s news coverage, and has repeatedly floated the revocation of broadcast licenses as the means of punishing ABC for its speech.”

“The Commission has demanded a review of the Stations’ licenses extraordinarily early,” ABC said in the lawsuit. “For all but two of the Stations, this early review comes before their current license terms have even reached the halfway point, and years before the Commission is statutorily authorized to grant renewal. That timing underscores the Commission’s true purpose: coercing and retaliating against a network that refuses to bow to the Administration’s demands.”

An FCC spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement that “all broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest — even Disney.”

“The FCC has been examining claims that Disney engaged in illegal DEI discrimination for over a year.  Disney is obviously very concerned about the FCC’s proceeding, as evidenced by their ongoing campaign of disinformation as well as their decision to ask a court to stop the FCC from further pursuing matters,” the spokesperson continued. “The FCC will continue to follow the facts and law wherever they lead.”

In July, Trump called for some television networks — including ABC and NBC — to have their broadcast licenses revoked for not airing live coverage of his election security speech, Politico reported.

“In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech. They knew what it was about,” Trump said at the time, Politico reported. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”

Still, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Politico’s Dasha Burns during a July appearance on “The Conversation” podcast that he does not “view the FCC as the speech police.”

Carr announced in a March 28, 2025 X post that he asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to open a probe into Disney and ABC.

“While Disney started as an iconic American company, it recently went all in on [diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)],” Carr wrote in the social media post. “I am concerned that their DEI practices may violate FCC prohibitions on invidious forms of discrimination.”