On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered The Walt Disney Company, ABC, and television subsidiaries to file early license renewal applications for their television stations, in relation to its investigation of potential unlawful discrimination.
In a filing published by the commission’s Media Bureau, the FCC reports that the move is the latest in an ongoing probe of potential discrimination by the media giant:
“The FCC has been investigating The Walt Disney Company, its American Broadcasting Company, and its subsidiaries (collectively, ‘Disney’s ABC’) for compliance with its obligations as a licensed broadcaster. Specifically, the FCC has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination. While Disney’s ABC has purported to respond to two FCC Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) as part of this investigation, the FCC has determined that additional actions are appropriate at this time.”
Any official investigation gives the FCC broad authority to require an early license renewal application – which it is ordering Disney’s ABC to do – so the FCC can “ensure that the broadcaster has been meeting its public interest obligations,” the order states:
“Specifically, 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. 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.”
“The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,” the Media Bureau says, giving Disney’s ABC 30 days to comply with its order:
“Therefore, Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days--in other words, by May 28, 2026.”
Coincidentally, the inspection of ABC’s “public interest” obligations comes amid controversy over concerns the network violated public interest by allowing late-night show Host Jimmy Kimmel to make a purported joke about the assassination of the President of the United States, Donald Trump – two days before an assassination attempt took place at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, DC.
