Disney pushes back as FCC orders early ABC station license renewals

The Federal Communications Commission thrust Disney into a confrontation with regulators on April 28, 2026, ordering the company to file early renewal applications for eight ABC-owned broadcast licenses that were not due until 2028 at the earliest, and in some cases not until 2031. The move is unusual because it pulled a routine licensing process forward by years and immediately raised the stakes for ABC, Disney and the White House.

The FCC said the order was tied to an investigation that began in March 2025 into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices and possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934, including the agency’s ban on unlawful discrimination. Disney responded that ABC and its stations had a long record of compliance and remained qualified under both the Communications Act and the First Amendment. The company also confirmed receipt of the order and said its stations continued to meet FCC requirements.

The dispute intensified after President Donald Trump publicly demanded that ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel over his April 23 monologue, in which he joked about Melania Trump. White House communications director Steven Cheung also urged ABC to take action. Free speech advocates called the FCC’s move illegal jawboning and viewpoint retaliation, arguing that regulators were using broadcast licensing power to pressure editorial decisions. One critic said the agency was neither the journalism police nor the humor police.

The backlash spread quickly to Capitol Hill. Senate Democrats including Edward Markey, Maria Cantwell, Chuck Schumer, Ben Ray Luján, Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren, Adam Schiff, Bernie Sanders, Mazie Hirono, Jacky Rosen, John Hickenlooper and Brian Schatz demanded that the FCC rescind the order and answer their questions by May 21, 2026. They said the agency should not serve as Trump’s “roving censor” and called the move an egregious abuse of power and a clear violation of the First Amendment.

ABC News has pointed to the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in NRA v. Vullo, which held that government officials cannot coerce private parties to suppress disfavored speech, as a potentially relevant precedent. Variety described the FCC’s early license-renewal demand as unprecedented, and the timing now sets up a long legal fight over whether the government is enforcing communications law or using license leverage to chill criticism.