Donald Trump’s top media regulator just declared “open season” on ABC and a former Federal Communications Commission counselor warned the consequences could be devastating.
The FCC’s late-April decision forcing ABC to apply early to renew the licenses for its eight owned local TV stations has now opened a public pleading window where anyone in the country can petition to deny those renewals through June 29, The Guardian reported Saturday.
“Is this open season on ABC? Without a doubt,” Gigi Sohn, who served as counselor to former FCC chair Tom Wheeler during the Obama administration, told the outlet.
The early-renewal order came a day after President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, lobbied for ABC to cancel late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about the first lady, according to the report. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has denied that the decision was politically motivated, insisting it stemmed from an ongoing investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
ABC argued in an 18-page memo in May that the DEI probe was a pretext for retaliating against a disfavored broadcaster and chilling protected speech.
Meanwhile, the FCC is running a parallel enforcement action against ABC’s daytime talk show “The View,” investigating a potential violation of equal-time rules. Comments on that probe close June 22.
ABC has hired Supreme Court litigator Paul Clement to defend the network. The full process could take up to three years.
Sohn speculated that any license revocation would be swiftly overturned.
“This is entirely about attacking ABC,” she said. “Is it about taking away their licenses? Brendan Carr is not a dummy. He knows that if he tried to take away ABC’s licenses that he would lose so badly in court. I mean, he would get spanked by a court, but it doesn’t need to get that far to make things very, very painful for ABC.”
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