WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Communications Commission opened a review of ABC's broadcast licenses and ordered Disney to file early license renewal applications for all ABC-owned television stations by May 28, 2026. The agency said the action was taken under its authority to investigate broadcasters and ensure compliance with public interest obligations.

The investigation includes possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC's prohibition on unlawful discrimination related to Disney's diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has opposed Disney's DEI practices, claiming they are a form of discrimination, and previously opened an investigation into the matter.

In explaining the move, the FCC said, "FCC rules provide that whenever the FCC regards an application for a renewal of a license as essential to the proper conduct of an investigation, the FCC has the authority to call the broadcaster's licenses in for early renewal." The agency added, "Doing so both allows the FCC to conduct its ongoing investigation and enables the FCC to ensure that the broadcaster has been meeting its public interest obligations more broadly." ABC owns eight television stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham and Fresno. Their licenses were originally scheduled for renewal between 2028 and 2031, and no television station licenses for any company are up for renewal until 2028.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez objected to the order. "This is the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date. As part of its ongoing campaign of censorship and control, the White House called publicly for the silencing of a vocal critic, and this FCC has now answered that call," Gomez said.

A Disney spokesperson defended the company's record. "ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public-interest programming. We are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels," the spokesperson said.

Actor and activist Jane Fonda also criticized the order. "FCC Chair Brendan Carr's latest order to review the broadcast license of all ABC stations is a naked attempt to weaponize government power against dissent," she said. Fonda added, "What we are seeing fits a deliberate and deeply troubling pattern of authoritarian regimes throughout history — and it should alarm anyone who believes in the First Amendment and the fundamental principle that the government has no authority to decide who gets to speak in a free society. Together, we must call this out clearly and forcefully for what it is: the systematic use of federal power to narrow the range of acceptable speech until only approved voices remain."

The last time the FCC revoked a broadcast license related to a station's programming was in 1969, involving a station in Jackson, Mississippi, that defended segregation on the air.