Disney Sues FCC Over Broadcast License Challenge

The Walt Disney Company and its ABC network filed a landmark First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, challenging the agency’s unprecedented order requiring early renewal of broadcast licenses for ABC’s eight owned-and-operated television stations. The company describes the FCC’s actions as an “existential threat” and part of a “retaliatory campaign” by the Trump administration against the network’s speech.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt the early license renewal proceedings, according to AP News. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan, a Biden appointee.

The FCC’s Unprecedented Action

In late April, the FCC ordered Disney’s eight owned-and-operated television stations—including WABC-TV in New York, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, and WLS-TV in Chicago—to file broadcast license renewals years ahead of schedule. The licenses were not due to expire until 2028 at the earliest, with some not coming up for renewal until 2031.

The FCC had not called for early license renewal applications for more than 50 years prior to this action, according to the lawsuit. The agency cited Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices and an investigation into ABC’s talk show “The View” as reasons for the early review.

“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 lawsuit states, as reported by NBC News. “That campaign began in this Administration’s earliest days and has only intensified since.”

A History of Escalating Conflict

The lawsuit represents the culmination of a long-simmering confrontation between ABC and the Trump administration that began well before the license order. The FCC’s DEI investigation into Disney was launched in March 2025, following Trump’s executive order targeting DEI programs at U.S. corporations, as CNBC reported at the time.

Tensions escalated dramatically in September 2025, when Disney briefly pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air after pressure from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, following Kimmel’s comments about the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Carr had warned on a podcast that “we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

The conflict intensified further in April 2026, when Kimmel aired a monologue describing First Lady Melania Trump as having “a glow like an expectant widow” during a mock White House Correspondents’ Dinner sketch. Two days later, a gunman attacked the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump and Melania Trump accused Kimmel of inciting violence and called for him to be fired.

Days later, the FCC ordered the early license renewals.

The Legal Argument

The lawsuit argues that the FCC’s actions violate the First Amendment and cites a unanimous 2024 Supreme Court decision (NRA v. Vullo) holding that government officials cannot use regulatory threats to coerce private parties from engaging in protected speech.

“The Commission’s true target is not the Stations’ employment practices or their carriage of a single presidential address; it is the content of Plaintiffs’ programming—and thus their speech,” the lawsuit states, according to Deadline. “Because the Commission cannot regulate that content directly, it has used its review of the Stations’ licenses as an instrument to the same end.”

The network’s legal team, led by attorney Beth Wilkinson, wrote that the FCC’s actions have created a chilling effect on ABC’s journalism. “Each time an ABC journalist publishes a story or an ABC host interviews a political guest, they must wonder whether that speech might lead the administration to follow through on its threat of license revocation or impose some other sanction,” the lawsuit states.

FCC Defends Its Actions

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has defended the agency’s actions, saying broadcasters have a duty to operate in the public interest. “Broadcasters like ABC struck a deal with the American people,” Carr said in a July interview on Fox Business Network, as reported by AP News. “You broadcasters get subsidized access, free access to a valuable public resource, the airwaves, worth billions of dollars. In exchange, you have to operate in the public interest.”

An FCC spokesperson said in response to the lawsuit: “All broadcasters have a legal obligation to operate in the public interest—even Disney. The FCC has been examining claims that Disney engaged in illegal DEI discrimination for over a year.”

The spokesperson added that “the FCC will continue to follow the facts and law wherever they lead.”

Broader Implications for Press Freedom

The lawsuit warns that the stakes extend far beyond ABC. “The consequences of the Administration’s campaign against free speech reach well beyond ABC,” the complaint states, according to CNBC. “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.”

Free speech advocates have praised the lawsuit as a significant moment. “People need to understand what a big deal this is,” said Gigi Sohn, former counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, as reported by Deadline. “Disney is doing what many of us had urged for many months—taking on the FCC’s weaponization of its regulatory power.”

Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Al Jazeera that “it’s about time for someone to take Brendan Carr and his FCC to court over their endless campaign of intimidation and retaliation against journalism that displeases Carr’s thin-skinned boss.”

The View Investigation and Equal-Time Dispute

The FCC is also investigating whether “The View” should be subject to equal-time rules, which require broadcasters who feature presidential candidates to provide comparable time to rivals. ABC argues the show is a legitimate news program, pointing to an FCC staff ruling from 2002 that exempted it.

Carr has threatened to reverse that determination. The network says the pressure has had a chilling effect—no candidate has appeared on the show since February 2026, nor has it featured video clips of political contenders, out of fear of triggering additional agency scrutiny.

What’s Next

Disney’s stock rose more than 1% in morning trading on news of the lawsuit, according to CBS News. The company has asked the court for a “speedy hearing” on its request for a temporary restraining order.

Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has made clear the company intends to fight. “Our position on this is clear,” D’Amaro told CNBC last week, as reported by The Detroit News. “We’re very principled on this. We’re going to stand up to what we believe is journalistic integrity, and we’re not going to be told how to run that side of our business.”

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the commission, expressed hope that the lawsuit would mark a turning point. “I am hopeful that this will mark the beginning of the end of this administration’s disregard for the Constitution and the law,” Gomez said, according to NY Post.

The case is expected to be one of the most closely watched legal battles over press freedom in recent history, with implications for every broadcaster in the country. The FCC could act on the license renewals at any time, making the court’s decision on the temporary restraining order potentially decisive.