Disney fights back: ABC sues Trump administration over threatened broadcast licences

In a long-simmering free-speech battle, Disney is punching back at the Trump administration.

On Tuesday, Disney and ABC sued the US Federal Communications Commission, alleging that the Trump administration is threatening the network’s broadcast licences in retaliation for its speech.

Filed by ABC, its parent company Disney and eight ABC-owned stations, the lawsuit challenges an unusual FCC order in April requiring the stations to apply for early licence renewals, years ahead of their scheduled 2028 renewals.

The FCC cited its investigation into ABC’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices as the reason for ordering the reviews. ABC, however, has argued that they are part of a campaign by the Trump administration to punish the network for content it dislikes.

“Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech – the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air,” the network said in its lawsuit.

“Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech.”

Pressure mounts for US media

Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, ordered the reviews after ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel drew the ire of Donald Trump with jokes about his wife, Melania Trump.

Trump had called for Kimmel to be fired, while Carr later warned broadcasters there could be consequences if they did not take disciplinary action against him.

Carr has defended the FCC’s actions by saying broadcasters have a duty to “operate in the public interest” in exchange for subsidised access to public airwaves. After Trump raised the heat on Kimmel, though, Carr also said: “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

Disney and ABC’s lawsuit describes the situation as an “existential threat” for US media.

“If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government. In such a world, the press could in no way be described as free,” the network said.

Under Carr, the FCC has also targeted ABC’s The View over its exemption from federal equal-time rules and opened investigations into CBS News and NBC News.

“Look, as a country, we should have a trusted, respected news media, and we’re not there,” Carr said. “So I hope more broadcasters return to their public interest obligations.”