Disney’s ABC has accused the FCC of violating the First Amendment over its demand that the company’s eight broadcast affiliate stations file for early license renewals.
On Thursday, the network said it was submitting the renewal applications “under protest” in response to an “unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional” order by the agency in April.
“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 states. “The Order has no legitimate purpose. There is no information that the application will reveal that the Commission could not obtain through other means. The Order is inconsistent with a legitimate exercise of investigative authority and is plainly incompatible with the First Amendment.”
It added that the FCC’s order’s “true purpose and inescapable effect” is to “suppress speech—to ramp up toward possible license revocation and cause the Station and others to think twice before they say something the government might dislike.”
“Simultaneously forcing every station in a media company’s portfolio to file premature license renewal applications is not a regulatory tool. It is an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices which sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America,” the filing continues. “This is a threat to the First Amendment that this Commission and this proceeding must not be permitted to normalize.”
In addition to accusing the FCC of violating the First Amendment, ABC warned the order threatens to harm the communities that its stations serve.
“The ultimate injury here is not to the Station or its parent company. It is to the public,” ABC said. “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.”
The renewal applications include public interest statements that detail how each of its stations has served the local community through its editorial coverage and community engagement.
Earlier Thursday, FCC chairman Brendan Carr issued a public notice reminding broadcasters of their public interest obligations and said the agency would take “appropriate actions to ensure compliance.”
Carr has previously claimed that the request for an early broadcast license renewal is tied to its investigation of Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, though he’s previously made license revocation threats in response to ABC’s programming such as “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The View.”
ABC’s eight-owned television states are Los Angeles’ KABC, Fresno’s KFSN, San Francisco’s KGO, Houston’s KTRK, New York’s WABC, Chicago’s WLC, Philadelphia’s WPVI and Durham’s WTVD.
The FCC gave ABC until Thursday at midnight ET to file the renewal. The licenses were originally scheduled to be renewed between 2028 and 2031.
