Updated at 1:10pm Eastern
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., the Disney-owned unit that houses ABC Owned Stations and the ABC Television Network, has sued the Federal Communications Commission in response to its decision to impose early license renewals on the company’s broadcast TV properties.
As ABC sees it, it is being targeted by a Commission under the direction of Chairman Brendan Carr and influence of the Trump Administration as part of a campaign to silence free and independent voices in journalism.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as “Case 1:26-cv-02902,” was widely shared across mainstream media on Tuesday ahead of the Opening Bell for New York financial markets. It is two-pronged, and not only slams the Commission for the extremely rare early license renewal action but also for its questioning as to whether daily chat show The View is a bona fide news program in the same vein as Face the Nation or Meet the Press.
“Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech—the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air,” ABC said in the petition. “Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech … Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,” the Disney unit said.
An immediate remedy would take a page out of Judge Troy Nunley’s playbook as the Sacramento-based federal arbiter weighs the Commission-approved and rule-busting merger between Nexstar Media Group and TEGNA: ABC wants the D.C. Circuit to hand the Commission a temporary restraining order and issue a preliminary injunction. This would put a pause on the early license renewal process as ABC wants the D.C. Circuit Court to hear its arguments.
Chairman Carr has repeatedly stated that the investigation involving ABC is tied to claims of “invidious forms” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) actions by the network and owned stations, comprised of WABC-7 in New York, WLS-7 in Chicago, KGO-7 in San Francisco, KABC-7 in Los Angeles, KTRK-13 in Houston, WTVD-11 in Raleigh-Durham and KFSN-30 in Fresno.
The Disney-owned ABC feels otherwise, and explains to the D.C. Circuit that it had no other option than to go to the court. “[There are] no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the Administration’s demands,” the suit said.
The First Amendment lawsuit against the Commission asks the court to stop the early broadcast license renewal proceedings, on the grounds that they should never have commenced.
FCC MUST INFORM D.C. COURT IF HDO TRANSPIRES
Some industry observers who spoke with RBR+TVBR questioned the timing of the court filing, with concerns it could be considered premature by the D.C. Circuit. However, ABC’s expressed reason for why it is doing so before the FCC has not yet issued its determination as to whether ABC Owned Stations should be subject to a shortened license renewal period and compliance plan, should receive a Hearing Designation Order sending the matter to an Administrative Law Judge, or receive the full license renewal period with no qualms allowed Judge Loren AliKhan to proceed.
AliKhan in the midday hours of Tuesday moved ahead with ordering the FCC and Disney representatives to meet and confer and file a joint status report on or before noon Thursday (8/20). This would propose a briefing schedule on the motion and provide three dates and times for a hearing on the motion.
Importantly, AliKhan addressed the motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction by ordering the FCC to notify the court if they issue a hearing designation order concerning the ABC Owned Stations, providing a copy of such an order to the court on the same day one were to be issued.
In that document, ABC’s legal counsel, Beth A. Wilkinson of Wilkinson Stekloff LLP, states, “This case boils down to a simple question: can the Administration use its control over the federal regulatory apparatus to punish a media organization for editorial decisions and news coverage it dislikes? Because the First Amendment provides a clear answer—of course not—this Court’s intervention is necessary to stop the Federal Communications Commission’s extraordinary assault on free speech.”
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