A U.S. federal judge is due to hold a hearing on Tuesday on Walt Disney’s (NYSE:DIS) request to temporarily block the Federal Communications Commission from advancing an early review of licences covering eight company-owned ABC television stations.
Disney filed its lawsuit in August, arguing that the FCC’s actions violate broadcasters’ First Amendment rights. The case concerns licence reviews ordered before the stations would ordinarily have been due for renewal.
U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan previously declined to issue an order preventing the FCC from referring the ABC licences for a public hearing. The FCC has agreed to provide the court with at least 48 hours’ notice before taking that step.
Tuesday’s hearing will consider whether a temporary restraining order should be issued.
Disney Alleges FCC Retaliation
In its lawsuit, Disney said the FCC was seeking to coerce and retaliate against “a network that refuses to bow to the administration’s demands.”
Disney described the agency’s actions as an “extraordinary assault on free speech.”
Those statements represent Disney’s allegations in the litigation and have not been established as findings by the court.
The lawsuit comes amid criticism of ABC programming by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called for broadcasters to drop programmes he has criticised and has urged the FCC to revoke station licences over programming.
FCC Ordered Early Licence Reviews in April
FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered the early reviews in April, although the ABC stations’ licence renewals were not scheduled to be considered before October 2028, according to the supplied material.
Carr said last week that he had not made any decisions about how to proceed.
The FCC had not ordered an early review of this type in more than 50 years before April. The reviews were ordered a day after Trump called for ABC to dismiss late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
Broadcast television stations require FCC licences to use public airwaves. Licence revocations are rare, while critics of the reviews have argued that the possibility of losing a licence could place pressure on broadcasters. This represents the position of those critics rather than an established finding regarding the FCC’s actions.
FCC Also Investigating ABC’s The View
The FCC is also investigating ABC daytime programme “The View,” which discusses politics, over whether federal rules requiring broadcasters to provide equal opportunities to political candidates may apply.
Disney noted that the programme has not invited political candidates to appear since February and cited what it described as the FCC’s “pressure campaign.”
Last month, Kimmel said FCC threats prevented the broadcast of his interview with James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas.
The interview was instead published on YouTube, where it had received more than 13 million views, according to the supplied material.
Tuesday’s hearing concerns Disney’s request for temporary court intervention and does not determine the final outcome of the underlying licence reviews.
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