ABC has formally submitted license renewal applications for its eight local TV stations as the FCC previously requested.
The request for ABC to renew its licenses came soon after the FCC received a complaint against late night host Jimmy Kimmel following his joke suggesting that First Lady Melania Trump had the glow of an “expectant widow.” Days after the sketch aired, a gunman attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
However, along with the filing, the Walt Disney Company-owned network also stated that it believes their being asked to renew the licenses early is a clear “threat to the First Amendment.”
As Deadline reported, the filing read: “It is an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices which sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America.”
The statement continues: “This is a threat to the First Amendment that this Commission and this proceeding must not be permitted to normalize.”
Last month, FCC chairman Brendan Carr denied that White House pressure on Jimmy Kimmel was behind the decision to order ABC to apply to renew its broadcast licenses early.
Carr previously denied that the events were linked and claimed the decision was due to an existing DEI investigation. “This was based on DEI conduct, not speech,” said Carr. “The FCC has rules on the books.”
He continued: “You can’t discriminate based on race and gender, and there’s evidence that have been submitted that that’s what Disney was doing, and so that’s the timeline of the agency’s actions.”
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However, ABC attached a legal filing to their renewal applications in which they counter that the “true purpose and inescapable effect” of the FCC’s orders “are to suppress speech—to ramp up toward possible license revocation.”
They believe that the FCC’s intention is to cause ABC “and others to think twice before they say something the government might dislike.”
The FCC’s own website makes clear that it “is prohibited by law from engaging in censorship or infringing on First Amendment rights of the press.”
However, in a public notice earlier this week Carr reminded “broadcasters of their public interest obligations.”
The notice continued: “The Commission will continue to analyze ownership structures to ensure that they are responsive to the needs of their local communities and are providing them with diverse viewpoints reflective of the information needs of those communities.”
In the aftermath of the Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, President Trump publicly called for ABC to take action against Kimmel and accused him of sharing violent rhetoric.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!! President DJT.”
Kimmel is under contract with ABC until 2027.
