Federal Communications Commission calls for rapid review of Disney broadcast station licenses following concerns about the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to a letter from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Tuesday.
The letter directs the company to seek an early renewal for ABC-owned television stations and notes that the action is related to an investigation into Disney’s DEI efforts, which began last year.
The licenses of ABC-owned stations were initially due to be renewed between 2028 and 2031.
Disney confirmed Tuesday that it had received the FCC’s order commencing an expedited review of its licenses. The FCC said in the letter that Disney now has 30 days – or until May 28 – to request the renewal.
“ABC and its channels have a long history of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and providing their local communities with trusted news, emergency information and public interest programming,” Disney said in a statement. “We are confident that this filing demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to demonstrate it through the appropriate legal channels. Our goal remains, as always, to serve viewers in the local communities where our stations operate.”
The FCC’s decision to require early renewals from Disney comes as ABC faces further backlash this week from President Donald Trump following comments by comedian Jimmy Kimmel in the opening monologue of his ABC network late-night talk show.
Trump renewed his push for ABC to take Kimmel off the air after the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” called First Lady Melania Trump a “future widow” on last week’s show, days before an alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
However, the FCC, the federal entity that regulates the media and telecommunications industry, began investigating Disney Stations last March for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules regarding its ban on unlawful discrimination.
Since beginning its investigation, the FCC has said that “Disney’s ABC purported to respond” to two requests. The agency nevertheless said it had determined that additional measures were “appropriate.”
The order lists eight stations subject to early renewal — three in California, plus others in Illinois, New York, Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — all of which are owned and operated by Disney. The call for early renewal does not affect Disney subsidiaries, which are operated by broadcast station owners like Nextstar Media Group.
Disney is not the only media company under investigation regarding its DEI efforts.
Under Carr, a Trump appointee, the FCC last year also opened investigations into Comcast, the owner of NBCUniversal, as well as Primordialbefore its merger with Skydance.
Following reports earlier Tuesday that the FCC intended to revise ABC’s licenses sooner, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez called the move “unprecedented, illegal and leading nowhere” in an article on
First Amendment experts began weighing in on the FCC’s latest decision Tuesday, raising similar points about when “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was temporarily suspended in September following comments the host made following the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
At the time, Carr suggested that broadcast stations’ licenses could be revoked in response.
“The FCC does not have the authority to revoke broadcasters’ licenses based on their political views. But it’s not just about the rights of Disney and ABC,” Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in an emailed statement.
“President Trump is attempting to consolidate control over what Americans see and hear on radio, television and social media. If he gets his way, we will only have government-aligned media organizations that broadcast only government-approved news and commentary. It would be hard to imagine an outcome more corrosive to democracy or more offensive to the First Amendment,” Jaffer said.