According to Reuters, the Federal Communications Commission will order early reviews of eight Disney-owned ABC stations this week. This comes after President Trump called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel, but Reuters’ source says the reviews aren’t directly tied to that situation.
FCC Reviewing ABC Licenses
The FCC issues eight-year licenses to individual broadcast stations and has not revoked a license in over 40 years. Trump has called on the FCC to revoke the licenses of ABC stations and Comcast-owned NBC stations.
The Disney licenses were not scheduled for review until October 2028. The FCC has also been investigating Disney’s DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives.
“This is unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere. This political stunt won’t stick,” said Anna Gomez, a Democratic FCC commissioner, about the reviews. “Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Reuters that it’s possible licenses could be revoked. He said this would be a “good thing long-term to make sure people understand that there are, in fact, things you can do to lose your license and really help broadcasters reorient their operations to the public interest.”
Disney has not commented on the Jimmy Kimmel or FCC situations.
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