Disney and ABC Take the FCC to Court Over Early Review of Station Licenses

A federal courtroom in Washington is hosting one of the most closely watched free speech fights in American media, as the Walt Disney Company and its ABC network ask a judge to stop the Federal Communications Commission from forcing an early review of the licenses for ABC’s eight local television stations.

Disney, ABC and the company’s station group sued the FCC in August. They are asking federal District Judge Loren L. AliKhan to block the agency from accelerating the renewal process, which normally happens on a staggered schedule and rarely draws attention. In August the judge denied ABC’s request for an expedited hearing on a temporary restraining order and issued no order barring the FCC from acting. The agency instead promised the court 48 hours’ notice before designating the licenses for a hearing, and the judge said she would move the case up if it did. At Tuesday’s hearing she did not rule immediately and asked for more briefs, due October 9 and 14.

Networks do not need federal licenses to operate, but the local stations they own do, because they broadcast over public airwaves. Six of ABC’s eight stations are in major markets and contribute significantly to the network’s finances, which is why a successful challenge to all of them at once would hit the company hard. Media lawyers and former FCC officials told NPR that targeting every one of a network’s licenses at the same time is unprecedented.

ABC’s lawsuit argues that the order, pushed by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, is really meant to chill the network’s speech. President Trump has repeatedly demanded that ABC fire the late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and has attacked the daytime show The View as unfair, and he has urged on social media that the FCC strip ABC of its licenses. The network says the pressure is already affecting its editorial choices; according to its lawsuit, The View stopped booking candidates and cut clips of candidates from the show.

Carr has said the review is not linked to ABC’s content. He has pointed to the legal requirement that broadcasters serve the public interest, has opened investigations into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and told NPR in August that no decision on renewal had been made and that Disney seemed a little jumpy. Government lawyers also argue that a district court is the wrong venue and that ABC could appeal any adverse decision directly to a federal appeals court.

The case has drawn unusual allies. Mark Fowler, a Republican who chaired the FCC under President Ronald Reagan, joined 12 other former FCC officials in a filing supporting ABC that called the agency’s probe unconstitutional.

The dispute is a sharp turn for Disney. ABC agreed in December 2024 to pay $16 million, including legal fees, to settle a defamation suit Mr. Trump brought over remarks by anchor George Stephanopoulos. Disney’s new chief executive, Josh D’Amaro, has now authorized a high-stakes fight with the administration in court.

Whatever the judge decides, the outcome will help define how far a broadcast regulator can go in pressing networks over their programming, a question that matters to every company that holds a broadcast license.