ABC sues FCC over challenge to its broadcast licenses, saying actions present 'existential threat'

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Further escalating its battle with the Trump administration, ABC on Tuesday took the rare step of suing the Federal Communications Commission on First Amendment grounds, saying the agency's demand for early review of broadcast licenses posed an “existential threat” to its operations.

In the lawsuit, ABC, its parent company Disney and the eight local stations whose licenses are affected asked a federal court to stop the early renewal proceedings.

The FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr, an ally of President Donald Trump, had ordered the early review in April — itself a rare move — of eight licenses owned by ABC, well before they are set to expire. It cited the network’s diversity practices as a reason, but the development came shortly after a joke by ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel — an outspoken Trump critic — had infuriated the president.

“Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC’s speech — the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air,” the network alleged in its lawsuit. “Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech."

“Facing this existential threat,” it added, “Plaintiffs have no choice but to seek redress from the judicial branch for the Administration’s blatant retaliation for their First Amendment speech.”

It said ABC had “no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the Administration’s demands." It asked the court to “immediately enjoin Defendants from taking or threatening to take any action against Plaintiffs in relation to the early license renewal applications.”

The early license review is only one part of a long-simmering confrontation between ABC and the FCC.

The network has also been fighting Carr’s efforts to make the morning talk show “The View,” whose hosts and guests are often critical of Trump, subject to equal-time rules. That's a question ABC says the agency itself decided — in the network's favor — more than two decades ago.

The lawsuit Tuesday also spoke of ramifications that go well beyond one network.

“The consequences of the Administration’s campaign against free speech reach well beyond ABC,” it said. “If the Administration gets its way, the message to every media company in the country will be unmistakable: tell only the stories the Administration deems favorable, or face the coercive machinery of the federal government. In such a world, the press could in no way be described as free.”

It added: “The FCC Chairman has left little doubt that this is his goal.”

The sole Democrat on the commission, Anna Gomez, commended ABC and Disney for pushing back against the FCC’s actions.

“For months, the FCC has waged a campaign of censorship and control against Disney’s ABC stations,” she said in a statement, “using the threat of broadcast license revocations to punish a company for speech this administration doesn’t like.”

“I have long called on companies to push back against this kind of government intimidation, and I’m glad Disney has shown courage and stepped up," she said. "This should be a welcome sign for every broadcaster who has felt the weight of this overreaching government pressure in silence.”

In late July, Carr defended his agency’s actions against ABC, saying broadcasters have a duty to “operate in the public interest.” The FCC, he said, was merely trying to restore that standard.

Broadcasters like ABC, Carr said in an interview on the Fox Business Network, “struck a deal with the American people. You broadcasters get subsidized access, free access to a valuable public resource, the airwaves, worth billions of dollars. In exchange, you have to operate in the public interest.”

“Look, as a country, we should have a trusted, respected news media, and we’re not there,” Carr said. “So I hope more broadcasters return to their public interest obligations.”

The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.