Disney and ABC sue the FCC to block early broadcast license reviews for eight stations

Legal challenge against early reviews

The Walt Disney Company and its broadcast division ABC filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on 18 August 2026. Filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the complaint alleges that the federal regulatory agency is conducting an unlawful retaliatory campaign to punish the network for its reporting. Alongside the main complaint, Disney submitted a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt early license renewal proceedings initiated by Carr. The FCC order targeted eight television stations owned and operated by ABC, demanding license renewal filings at least two and a half years before their statutory terms expire between 2028 and 2031. ABC contended in court that the accelerated review schedule represents an irregular administrative demand designed to coerce the broadcaster.

Administration pressure and television programming

The legal complaint details multiple instances of pressure from President Donald Trump and FCC leadership targeting ABC entertainment and news broadcasts. Trump had called for the termination of broadcast licenses on Truth Social, describing the network's news coverage as completely negative toward him. The lawsuit noted that Carr's early renewal demand followed public attacks by Trump regarding remarks by host Jimmy Kimmel concerning First Lady Melania Trump. The FCC had also initiated a probe into the daytime talk show "The View" after Trump labeled the program pathetic. In another dispute involving remarks following the death of Charlie Kirk, threats of license revocation led stations to pull Kimmel's broadcast temporarily from the air.

Regulatory defense and internal dissent

The FCC defended its actions by linking the station reviews to an ongoing agency investigation into Disney's diversity, equity, and inclusion practices that has spanned more than a year. Agency officials stated that all broadcast license holders must satisfy statutory public interest obligations. However, the commission's sole Democratic member, Anna Gomez, publicly broke with agency leadership and endorsed Disney's legal challenge. Gomez characterized the licensing threats as an effort to penalize expression that the administration disfavors, warning against the politicization of telecommunications oversight.

It is time this administration understands that the Constitution does not bend to political convenience, and that the First Amendment protects the news and commentary Americans see on their screens even when those in power wish it didn't.

Broadcast licenses and court remedies

The lawsuit asks the federal court to prevent the FCC from issuing a Hearing Designation Order, which Disney argued would initiate administrative processes intended to force stations off the air. The network stated that even without outright license revocations, protracted regulatory proceedings create immediate financial and legal burdens for its eight stations. Ray Seilie, an attorney at Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir, noted that the suit attempts to show the FCC's renewal demands lack good faith and serve as a pretext for speech regulation. If granted, the preliminary injunction would suspend all early review proceedings until federal judges rule on the constitutional merits of the case.