The National Association of Broadcasters slammed the FCC’s move to target ABC with an early license renewal in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump’s latest controversy.
The NAB – an advocacy association for America’s broadcasters that lobbies the government on behalf of TV station owners – released a statement on Wednesday calling for a united front as the FCC pressures Disney’s broadcast license.
“The FCC’s broadcast license renewal process must be grounded in predictability, fairness and transparency, principles reflected in the license terms Congress established and later extended,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “The Media Bureau’s nearly unprecedented request for one company to quickly reapply for all of its licenses – rather than utilize its traditional enforcement process – runs contrary to these principles and creates significant uncertainty for all broadcasters.”
He continued: “Broadcast stations already face intense challenges as they work to deliver trusted journalism, lifesaving emergency services, community programming and election coverage. The FCC must be careful to avoid actions that create further instability for the local stations viewers and listeners depend on.”
On Tuesday, the FCC asked Disney’s eight local ABC broadcast stations to apply for an early renewal for broadcast licenses, a rare move but one that lines up with right-wing outrage after Kimmel made a joke at a mock WHCD last Thursday where he claimed Melania had the “glow of an expectant widow.” Anger surged following the attack at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.
“The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,” David J. Brown, the chief of the FCC’s video division, wrote to Disney, ABC and the stations in a letter on Tuesday. “Therefore, Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days – in other words, by May 28, 2026.”
In an X post, Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, called the move “unprecedented, unlawful and going nowhere.”
“This political stunt won’t stick,” she wrote. “Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.”
Kimmel’s joke is not the direct reason for the early renewal, but it came after both President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump called for ABC to have the late night host fired. Disney briefly suspended Kimmel last year after Carr warned broadcasters following the host’s comments about Charlie Kirk; Carr has said he did not threaten them.
A network spokesperson said the company has received the letter and it believes “ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information and public‑interest programming.”
“We are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels,” the statement read. “Our focus remains, as always, on serving viewers in the local communities where our stations operate.”
