WASHINGTON, D.C. — The lone dissenting votemaker sitting on the Federal Communications Commission last week met with representatives from two public advocacy groups who seek to take a front seat in the fight against the FCC’s Republican leadership for its decision to initiate an early license renewal process for the eight ABC Owned Stations — a move the groups believe is an “unconstitutional assault on the freedom of the press.”
Frequency Forward and the Media Action Center met with FCC Commissioner Anna Gómez and members of her staff to brief the Democratic-aligned Commissioner on the groups’ legal strategy to “protect” ABC viewers’ First Amendment rights as it seeks a long-shot approval of a Petition to Deny the early license renewals of ABC Owned Stations’ eight properties across the U.S.
To be clear, Media Action Center and Frequency Forward are not trying to block the stations’ license renewals. Rather, they see the late June 2026 action as the lone way to gain standing as it condemned the Carr Commission’s decision to place an early license renewal on the TV channels.
The petition sees the MAC and Frequency Forward seek to join ABC parent The Walt Disney Company “in resisting the FCC’s unconstitutional attempt to chill Disney’s exercise of free speech and the public’s right to information free of government interference.” In a September 16 meeting with Gómez and her staff, the groups noted that their Petition to Deny is also designed to make the American public “formal parties to the FCC proceeding, provide procedural rights otherwise unavailable to informal commenters, and to force transparency in the ongoing broadcast license fight.”
The groups also told Gómez that American viewers have a constitutionally protected right to receive news, information, and programming free from government intimidation.
Commissioner Gómez was joined by Chief of Staff and Legal Advisor Deena Shetler, and Jonathan Uriarte, the Strategic Communications and Policy Advisor for Gómez.
The meeting came as Frequency Forward, the Media Action Center, and individual ABC viewers from across the country opposed the FCC’s attempt to have Disney’s lawsuit dismissed in Federal Court. The groups’ filing argues that the FCC’s early license-renewal process has already harmed viewers’ First Amendment rights and that allowing the Commission’s pretextual and retaliatory Investigation to continue could leave ABC’s licenses in limbo for years.
The opposition argues that “the process is the punishment” and warns that, absent court intervention, “ABC will continue to self-censor.”
From the FF-MAC opposition:
If permitted to continue, the investigation and hearing will go on for years, turning the regulatory process itself into the punishment. The purpose of this proceeding is not to gather information, but to threaten punishment for Disney’s temerity to criticize Trump and his policies, thereby constraining ABC and other broadcasters from any future revelations that might cast the administration in a negative light. The FCC’s investigation is not just about Disney or ABC per se, nor does it have anything to do with EEO rules. The FCC’s action is part of a larger attack on the First Amendment and the Constitutional rights of media outlets and the public that relies on those media outlets to keep them informed.
Even if the FCC is unable to revoke the Plaintiffs’ licenses, early renewal combined with a lengthy hearing and a still lengthier FCC review process, will place Disney’s licenses in limbo for many years. Thus, either Plaintiffs’ licenses will be revoked, or the Trump administration will muzzle Disney for the foreseeable future. A win-win for the administration, but a terrible loss for democracy and the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech.
FF-MAC’s opposition also catalogs twenty instances in which President Trump publicly called for broadcasters’ licenses to be revoked over news coverage or programming he criticized. The filing also points to Chairman Carr’s admission that the FCC is “not an independent agency,” which the groups cite as further evidence that the Commission is operating under Trump’s supervision.
“Chairman Carr heard President Trump loud and clear,” the groups argue. “Upon becoming Chairman of the FCC, he immediately started investigating Trump’s enemies. As discussed supra, one of his first acts was to reinstate the complaints against WCBS, WNBC, and WPVI. He has ordered investigations into public broadcasters PBS and NPR. Carr says he is simply trying to hold media companies accountable but, unsurprisingly, the one major broadcasting outlet he has not criticized and is not investigating is Fox News. This case is not about whether the Plaintiffs have failed to cooperate with the FCC’s poorly articulated antidiscrimination investigation. Rather, it is just one battlefield in Trump’s war to silence his critics.”
RBR+TVBR MEMBER BONUS: A copy of the ex parte filed following the meeting with Commissioner Gomez is here. A copy of Opposition to the FCC’s motion to dismiss is here.
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