The FCC is following up on the broadcast licenses of Disney-owned ABC television stations

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered Disney-owned ABC stations to apply for early license renewals, as was already said by The New York Times. In booking on TuesdayThe FCC says it made the decision as part of an investigation into Disney’s policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

The move comes just a day after President Donald Trump asked the host of ABC’s late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel, who called Melania Trump a “pregnant widow” in a skit, ahead of the assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Disney doesn’t plan to renew its broadcast licenses until 2028, according to NBC News. The entertainment giant controls it ABC stations in eight major marketsincluding Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia. Disney now has until May 28 to renew the licenses for all of its ABC shows. Although a NOW says it’s “very difficult for the government to take away broadcasting rights,” the FCC’s order marks an escalation in its battle against Disney. If the FCC denies ABC’s license renewal, Disney could challenge the decision in court while its TV stations continue to broadcast, NOW reports.

“The FCC has determined that an immediate renewal of Disney’s ABC licenses, at this time, pursuant to the public interest provisions of the Communications Act is necessary under the agency’s rules,” it said. Disney did not immediately respond Seasiderequest for comments.

Since Trump took office in 2025, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has been he used his position to target the media broadcasts that are not related to current events. Last year, the FCC opened an investigation go to Disney Carr’s “worries”. that the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices “were in violation of the FCC’s equal employment opportunity rules.” Carr later threatened to pull the licenses of the broadcasters Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the late-night host commented on the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk. Disney took it Jimmy Kimmel Live! from space following Carr’s threat and they reinstated the show a few days later.

Carr very much recently threatened in the press about the Iran war and said that “advertisers must act in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they don’t.” Chairman then he tried to make his voice clearsaying that the organization has no plans to withdraw broadcasting licenses, and that “the only thing we have discussed about removing broadcasting licenses is for operators who do not please the public, who are doing fraud on the radio, disrupting the news.”

Carr is using the FCC’s News Distortion Policy as the basis for his claim, though your organization page it says that broadcasters can only be prosecuted “if it can be proven that they willfully distort an accurate news report.” Former FCC employees asks the federal appeals court to repeal the law, calling Carr’s use of the policy an “abuse of regulatory power to shape voting opinions and manipulate information.”

Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democrat representative, called Carr’s problems to Disney’s broadcast licenses, the agency is “the worst attack on the First Amendment” to date. “This is an unprecedented and politically motivated attempt to disrupt the way broadcasters operate, and this fraud cannot be stopped,” says Gomez. “This should be a lesson to media companies that no submission to this authority will protect them.”

Update, April 28: He added to Gomez’s response.