ABC Sues the FCC, Calling Broadcast License Review a Free Speech Attack

ABC has sued the Federal Communications Commission, asking a federal court to halt proceedings that the network says amount to a government crackdown on its speech.

The suit, filed on 18 August 2026 in D.C. District Court, seeks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop the FCC from moving forward with early renewal of ABC's eight broadcast licenses — the permissions a station needs to transmit over public airwaves. ABC filed those renewal applications earlier this year, but did so "under protest," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The network calls the FCC's actions a free speech violation by the Trump administration. At the centre of the dispute are two separate FCC proceedings: one targeting ABC's broadcast licenses, and another aimed at the daytime talk show The View.

The FCC launched a proceeding arguing that The View is not a "bona fide" news program — meaning it would lose an exemption from the agency's equal opportunity rules, which require stations to offer comparable airtime to opposing political candidates when one candidate appears on a show. ABC said the FCC appeared poised to rule that the show must provide equal opportunities to all legally qualified political candidates if it interviews even one, a move ABC says would reverse decades of agency precedent.

ABC's lawyers have accused the FCC of targeting the network and The View for political purposes, noting the show frequently features liberal guests, The Guardian reported in May. In its filing with the FCC, ABC argued the scrutiny of The View would "chill critical protected speech, both with respect to The View and more broadly," The Hill reported.

The early license renewal appeared aimed at parent company Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion policies, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Just before calling in the licenses, the administration had called for action against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he made on his program.

The scope of ABC's response to the twin FCC investigations has been significant. The network said it responded to more than 600 separate requests and produced more than 13,000 pages of documents across both proceedings.

The FCC regulates broadcast programming in several ways, including a ban on "indecent" content, according to Disney's fiscal year 2024 annual report. Broadcast licenses are typically renewed on an eight-year cycle, making the FCC's decision to call ABC's in early an unusual step that the network now wants a court to block.

What gives the case its weight is the collision between two things: a regulatory tool normally used to manage airwaves, and a set of programming decisions — a joke, a talk show's guest list, a company's hiring policies — that ABC says the government is using licensing power to police. If the court grants the injunction, the early renewal proceedings pause. If it does not, ABC's licenses move through a review the network argues is politically driven.

The case is in its earliest stage. No hearing date has been announced.