FCC Asks Judge To Toss Disney Lawsuit On License Reviews

The FCC asked a federal judge Thursday to dismiss Disney’s lawsuit seeking to block early review of licenses for the company’s eight ABC-owned stations.

The FCC said a Disney win would stop it from weighing evidence in an ongoing investigation and hobble its “efforts to investigate and resolve serious allegations that Disney has engaged in unlawful discrimination.” The agency also argued the case belongs in a Washington federal appeals court, not district court.

U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington has set an Oct. 6 hearing. 

The FCC agreed to give at least 48 hours’ notice before any order referring the ABC licenses for a public hearing.

The case is a test of broadcasters’ free-speech rights. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for ABC to lose its licenses over programming he dislikes. FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered the early reviews in April—more than four years before the stations’ renewals were due in October 2028, and the first such early reviews in more than 50 years. 

Carr has said he has not decided whether to send the licenses to a hearing. The reviews were ordered a day after Trump urged ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

Trump has repeatedly pressed broadcasters to drop comedy or news programs that joke about or criticize him or his administration, and has called on the FCC to strip licenses after criticizing coverage. On Sunday he called for the FCC to rebuke or punish NBC journalist Kristen Welker after she noted his mixed record endorsing candidates. Carr has been investigating Comcast’s diversity practices since February 2025 and has not ruled out an early review of NBC licenses.

Broadcast stations need FCC licenses to use public airwaves. Revocations are extremely rare, but critics say the threat of losing a license can pressure stations and raise concerns about government interference in editorial and programming decisions. Networks have broad First Amendment protections over those choices.

Disney declined to comment Thursday. In its suit, the company said the FCC was seeking to coerce and retaliate against “a network that refuses to bow to the administration’s demands,” calling the agency’s actions an “extraordinary assault on free speech.”