ABC accused the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday of retaliating against the company because the agency “dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed” on the network’s programs, the latest salvo in the unusual clash between the company and the Trump administration.
The network’s comments, made in filing to the agency, are part of its formal opposition to the F.C.C.’s review of ABC’s local broadcast licenses. The review is an extraordinary escalation — ABC called it “unprecedented”— by the Trump administration in its efforts to bring media organizations to heel.
In the lengthy filing, ABC called the F.C.C. review an attempt by the administration to chill the free speech rights of media organizations.
“The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price,” the filing said.
ABC owns eight of the more than 200 local stations that carry its programming across the country, in vital markets including New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. In order for the government to take away stations’ rights to broadcast, it must be able to make a convincing case that the stations had shown a pattern of violating rules and regulations.
The F.C.C., led by Brendan Carr, called for a review of the broadcast licenses in April over ABC’s diversity and inclusion policies. Mr. Carr’s decision, however, came shortly after the network’s late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel, made a joke that angered President Trump.
In Thursday’s filing, ABC pointed to more than 150,000 comments posted to the F.C.C. website in response to the review, most of which were overwhelmingly supportive of the company’s position.
Last month, ABC began airing commercials urging viewers in the eight local markets the F.C.C. is scrutinizing to “use your voice” and tell the agency not to take away their “trusted local station.” The company included a QR code that led viewers directly to the F.C.C. website. The network ran a similar commercial urging supporters to back ABC’s talk show “The View” in another dispute with the F.C.C.
This week, former F.C.C. officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, called the agency’s review “an assault on free speech disguised as regulatory process.”
The filing also revealed that the legal team at Disney, which owns ABC, just got bigger. Disney has hired Beth Wilkinson, a trial lawyer who successfully defended Microsoft’s 2023 acquisition of Activision. She was also recently hired by Paramount as it contends with several state attorneys general who are suing to block its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ms. Wilkinson will join a legal team that includes Paul D. Clement, one of the most experienced Supreme Court litigators in the country. If the F.C.C. ultimately decides to block the renewal of ABC’s station licenses, the network will have opportunities to fight back in court.
What comes next — including whether there’s a hearing, or if the dispute goes before the agency’s administrative law judge — will now fall to Mr. Carr.
Last week, after ABC did not carry Mr. Trump’s prime-time presidential address live, Mr. Carr said that the network’s decision would be part of its review into the broadcast licenses. (NBC also did not air the address.)
“I think that when you have the president of the United States standing inside the White House delivering an important speech, I think that’s something that broadcasters should be carrying,” he said.
