The National Association of Broadcasters is speaking out in response to an order from the Federal Communications Commission that Disney’s ABC-owned TV stations must file for early license renewal.
NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt said that the Media Bureau’s “nearly unprecedented” request that a specific company reapply for all of its licenses essentially on demand — rather than use its normal enforcement process — creates “significant uncertainty” for all broadcasters.
“The FCC’s broadcast license renewal process must be grounded in predictability, fairness and transparency, principles reflected in the license terms Congress established and later extended,” LeGeyt said.
“Broadcast stations already face intense challenges as they work to deliver trusted journalism, lifesaving emergency services, community programming and election coverage,” he added in the statement.
“The FCC must be careful to avoid actions that create further instability for the local stations viewers and listeners depend on.”
Disney’s broadcast licenses were not due to be reviewed before October 2028, according to Reuters. As our sister site TVTech noted, asking for an early license renewal is extremely rare and almost never involves network-owned stations.
In the order issued on Tuesday, the FCC referred to its ongoing investigation of Disney’s DEI policies. David Brown, chief of the Video Division of the Media Bureau, wrote, “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. 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.”
But the move follows months of comments by President Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggesting that the ABC stations should lose their licenses over comments made by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
In a post on X, Commissioner Anna Gomez, the agency’s only Democrat, blasted the order as a “political stunt.”
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