ABC tells judge licence threats are chilling its broadcasts

ABC told a federal judge in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, 6 October that threats from the Trump administration have left its news teams censoring themselves on air.

The two-hour hearing before U.S. District Judge Loren AliKahn was the first full airing of ABC's First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. broadcast regulator. ABC and its parent Disney sued on 18 August after the FCC ordered early renewal proceedings for ABC's eight owned broadcast stations, meaning their licences to transmit over public airwaves would be reviewed ahead of schedule, Reuters.

Lead lawyer Beth Wilkinson said the pressure was current and continuing. "We are watching everything we do," she told the court, arguing that repeated threats to ABC's licences had created a chilling effect on editorial choices, according to Deadline.

Wilkinson tied that effect to a sequence of events this year. President Donald Trump urged the revocation of ABC's licences, repeatedly called for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired for mocking him, complained about news coverage and, in July, called for ABC to lose its licences for not carrying a speech. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr also issued public warnings. Disney and ABC have said in a court filing that Carr made clear he was carrying out Trump's directives, Reuters.

The FCC licenses individual stations, not networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox. Disney's ABC had filed routine renewal applications for its eight stations on 28 May 2026. The lawsuit asks the court to block the early review of those applications.

Government lawyers asked Judge AliKahn to dismiss the case. They argued the early-renewal order was linked to an investigation into Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion practices, not retaliation for coverage.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dimitar P. Georgiev, acting for the FCC, said ABC had skipped a required step. The order came from the FCC's media bureau, he said, and ABC should have appealed inside the agency to the full commission first. He also argued that any challenge to a licence decision belongs in the D.C. Circuit appeals court, not in district court.

Wilkinson said ABC had already altered coverage because of the scrutiny. She pointed to The View, ABC's daytime talk programme. The show's "Hot Topics" segment will not show clips of political candidates this election cycle over fears of breaching the equal-time rule, the U.S. rule that requires stations to offer comparable airtime to rival candidates.

That fear follows a live FCC inquiry. The regulator opened an investigation in February after The View featured James Talarico, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas. ABC has contended the programme falls under a news-programming exemption to the rule.

For viewers, this means the dispute is already shaping what appears on screen. A crew of hundreds makes those daytime and late-night hours. Those jobs depend on slots that stay filled.

Judge AliKahn made no ruling on Tuesday. She asked both sides for further written submissions, with deadlines running through 14 October.