In a fiery legal filing to the Federal Communications Commission Thursday, ABC submitted early renewal applications for its eight owned and operated local TV stations, though the Disney-owned broadcaster noted that it was doing so “under protest.”
“The Commission had not demanded early renewal in over five decades. And it has never before demanded simultaneous license renewal applications from a group of stations commonly owned with a network as it has here,” the filing, from the network’s flagship WABC New York, states. “The Order has no legitimate purpose.”
ABC argues that the FCC, under chairman Brendan Carr, was attempting to “suppress speech under the guise of bureaucratic process.”
ABC cites the timing of the request, which came days after ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel came under sharp criticism from President Trump, who demanded he be fired over a joke he made about First Lady Melania Trump.
“The timing of the Order makes the retaliatory purpose unmistakable,” the filing states. “The Order suddenly emerged the day after public calls for punitive action in response to comments made during ABC Network programming.”
