GoKawiilThe eight broadcast TV stations owned by ABC filed applications for early license renewals under protest yesterday, accusing the Federal Communications Commission of trying to suppress speech as part of “an unprecedented attack on a single company’s entire portfolio of broadcast licenses.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has repeatedly threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from President Trump’s least favorite networks. He recently ordered the Disney-owned ABC to file early license renewal applications for all of its TV stations over allegations that its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices violate anti-discrimination rules.
“The only plausible reason to issue the Order is to punish the Station for speech the government does not like,” ABC said in its filings. The FCC is “using the license process renewal to punish a broadcaster for its editorial choices” in “an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices,” it said.
ABC said the order it received “sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America.” If that warning wasn’t clear enough, the FCC yesterday issued a public notice to “remind” all broadcasters of “their public interest obligations.” The public notice was issued on the same day as the deadline the FCC set for ABC to submit its early license renewal applications, and urged all broadcasters to “review and modify their operations to ensure compliance.”
Warning that other broadcasters could face threats to their licenses, the public notice said the FCC “will not hesitate to exercise its statutory authority to ensure that broadcasters either fulfill their public interest obligation or provide the privilege of being a broadcast licensee to someone that will fulfill that duty.” The FCC said it may order early license reviews or other punitive measures when it “finds that a broadcaster has failed to serve the public interest.” The notice said broadcasters have an “obligation to offer programming responsive to the needs and interests of the local communities they are licensed to serve.”