ABC Files Early FCC License Renewals "Under Protest"

ABC has submitted early renewal applications to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) its for eight owned and operated local TV stations, noting that they are doing so "under protest."

What's Happening:

• The Disney-owned ABC Network previously accused the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of violating its free speech rights in a 52-page filing with the agency.
• The filing stems from a single ABC-owned station in Houston, involving a regulatory dispute in regards to the ABC series, The View.
• Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC has filed their early renewal applications, while also arguing that the FCC, under chairman Brendan Carr, was attempting to “suppress speech under the guise of bureaucratic process.”
• “The Commission had not demanded early renewal in over five decades. And it has never before demanded simultaneous license renewal applications from a group of stations commonly owned with a network as it has here,” the filing, from the network’s flagship WABC New York, states. “The Order has no legitimate purpose.”
• The network specifically notes that the request for early renewal came just days after late night host Jimmy Kimmel came under fire from President Trump, who demanded he be fired over a joke he made about First Lady Melania Trump.
• “The timing of the Order makes the retaliatory purpose unmistakable,” the filing states. “The Order suddenly emerged the day after public calls for punitive action in response to comments made during ABC Network programming.”
• In addition to Kimmel, the FCC has also targeted The View, the daytime panel show, suggesting that it may have run afoul of its equal opportunity provision for political candidates.
• On the flip side, the FCC argues that the early license renewal is about Disney’s DEI practices, not its programming.
• ABC argues that the ultimate losers of this battle won't be the network or the FCC, but rather the viewers, stating:
  • “The ultimate injury here is not to the Station or its parent company. It is to the public. When a broadcaster must weigh regulatory retaliation before making editorial decisions, the public loses access to journalism that is free from government influence. The Order—both on its own terms and as a signal to other broadcasters—advances exactly that result. A press that edits itself to avoid government displeasure is not a free press. The Commission should not be the instrument of that outcome.”

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