ABC Claims Public Support In FCC's "Ongoing Retaliation Campaign"
Eight ABC Stations have been forced to apply for license renewal ahead of schedule.
The battle between ABC and the FCC over license renewal is heating up and the network is claiming victory in the court of public opinion.
What's Happening:
- ABC is in a battle with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the Commission's Chairman, Brendan Carr moved to have eight stations owned by The Walt Disney Company apply for their broadcast license renewal earlier than scheduled.
- The FCC claims the early renewal is part of an investigation into Disney's DEI policies, which they claim violate anti-discrimination rules. Many observes have claimed the move is purely political, as some ABC shows like The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live have been critical of the Trump Administration.
- A public comment period on the renewal recently closed and in a new filing by ABC covered by Deadline, the network claims that an AI review of the over 150,000 comments indicates that 86% percent support ABC, and an additional 10% were critical of the FCC.
- Furthermore it plainly argues that the request for renewal was part of "ongoing retaliation campaign" which was not about the current investigation, but simply about the fact the government does not like some of the content on ABC.
What ABC Said:
- ABC's Filing: "The FCC has spent the last 18 months searching for some pretext for revoking the Stations’ licenses. The Commission has found none, because the Stations easily meet the standard for license renewal—which under the law means that the Commission cannot revoke their licenses or order a hearing on their renewal applications."
- Regarding the DEI investigation: "if any violation were ever substantiated, the Commission has a graduated set of well-established remedies far short of the corporate death penalty of license non-renewal
More Disney/FCC News:
- Disney has accused the FCC of violating its free speech, and the ACLU recently send Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro a letter is support of that claim.
- Disney did file the required paperwork for renewal as the FCC requested, but did so "under protest."
- The current battle between Disney and ABC actually began last year after the FCC chairman argued Jimmy Kimmel should be taken off the air for comments surrounding the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Kimmel was suspended for a week soon after.