FCC Chairman Carr goes after ABC O&Os licenses over “DEI policies”
But we all know what the REAL reason is
The latest battle between The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and the Trump Administration took afoot Tuesday as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr ordered an early review of the network’s licenses for their eight owned-and-operated stations, including WLS-TV here in Chicago (branded as ABC 7 Chicago), over alleged violations of their anti-DEI policies.
The review comes after President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump demanded the firing ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for making a joke about her in a sketch on last Thursday night’s show, saying she was “glowing like an expectant widow.” On Saturday, a gunman entered the hotel where the White House Correspondents Dinner, attended by the President and First Lady and dozens of dignitaries. A shot was fired and he was detained by security, coming nowhere near where the area where the dinner was taking place.
On Monday night’s show, Kimmel declined to apologize, stating he was referring to Trump’s advanced age (he turns 80 on June 14) and not to any act of violence.
Nevertheless, the FCC ordered an early review of ABC’s licenses, which were supposed to be up between 2028 and 2030. Given the coincidence, one could wonder if this decision isn’t due to those anti-DEI violations, perhaps accelerating the investigation because of the Kimmel joke.“The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations. Therefore, Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days — in other words, by May 28, 2026.”, the FCC’s Media Bureau proclaimed.
Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the three-person FCC, blasted the move, saying it violated the First Amendment, as did others including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and the National Association of Broadcasters, which supported much of the policies Carr championed to deregulate the TV business. This latest action comes after Kimmel was suspended by ABC for a few days last September after he commented on Charlie Kirk’s assassination, after its affiliates owned by Nexstar and Sinclair pulled the show off their airwaves, forcing ABC’s hand. Kimmel returned to airwaves a few nights later after viewers boycotted the network and canceled Disney Plus and Hulu subscriptions, and Nexstar and Sinclair did likewise.
As of this writing, there has been no action taken by ABC, Nexstar, or Sinclair over Kimmel’s latest remarks.
Disney is confident they will beat the charges the FCC is imposing on them.
“ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming,” Disney said in a statement. “We are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels. Our focus remains, as always, on serving viewers in the local communities where our stations operate.”
ABC’s stations are mostly located in either blue states and/or blue metropolitan areas, including four of the five largest markets, with three in California alone (you can see a complete list of ABC-owned stations in the tags section below.) ABC has until May 28 to turn in the paperwork associated with the renewals. From there, they can be renewed, or if there is a “question of fact”, the FCC can designate a hearing to an administrative law judge. If the judge denies the licenses, Disney can appeal to the D.C. circuit. The process can drag on for years – long after Trump and Carr are both out of office, as evidenced by the long, eleven-year battle for WSNS-TV’s license.
WSNS’ license was revoked by the FCC in September 1990 – the last time the agency took such an action – over issues during its ON-TV subscription TV era in the early 1980s, where the station was accused of airing “adults only” movies and not enough public affairs programming in a complex and an often confusing case. It took a year and-a-half for the license challenge (made in July 1983 by Monroe Communications) to reach an administrative law judge, in which Joseph Chachkin ruled in favor of Monroe, but the station’s owners at the time (Video 44 and Oak Industries, which shuttered ON-TV in July 1985 and flipped to Spanish-languaage programming), appealed the decision to the FCC, who rejected their license renewal for WSNS five years later after a federal appeal court overturned the agency’s decison to renew Video 44’s license a year earlier. This battle would continue until June 1993 when a financial settlement was reached between the parties (WSNS is now a Telemundo station owned by NBC.)
Although this is unprecedented with the number of stations involved, Carr and the FCC’s chances of actually revoking the licenses are slim to none given how the First Amendment is involved, and no administrative law judge in their right mind would rule in favor of agency, despite its’ “news distortion” policy, which is completely vague and constitutionally questionable. But the FCC action freezes ABC from buying or selling stations, as they are the smallest station group in terms of the local stations they own, compared to the three other broadcast networks and Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, and Scripps. ABC has not bought any station since 1995, when they purchased WJRT Flint, Mich. and WTVG Toledo, Oh., which they sold back to their previous owner in 2010.
ABC-owned stations have been the most successful of any group, even more profitable than the network at times, and for decades, its local news operations ranked are either first or second in the eight markets they are in. The station group is also home to powerhouse syndicated programming including Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Live With Kelly And Mark (and its predeccessors), and in the past, The Oprah Winfrey Show. ABC 7 has dominated the local ratings for 40 years, and has a strong community presence, so it’s crystal clear why Carr is going after ABC’s local stations given they have set the gold standard on how to run a successful local news operation. This action by the FCC has nothing to do with “failing local communities” and everything to do with Jimmy Kimmel making fun of Donald Trump on his show, curtained behind some fake “DEI” charges.