The ABC television network on Thursday issued a rigorous defense of its right to broadcast, accusing the Federal Communications Commission of threatening its station licenses as part of a campaign of \u201cunconstitutional retaliation and coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Its accusation came in a formal response to a highly unusual move by the F.C.C. in April<\/a> ordering ABC to apply to renew its broadcasting licenses years before they are set to expire. The request from the agency raised the possibility that the Trump administration would seek to strip one of the nation\u2019s original broadcasters of its television stations.<\/p>\n The network\u2019s response, made in a filing with the agency, contained ABC\u2019s formal renewal applications and sets the stage for a showdown between the Trump administration and ABC over free speech, censorship and political bias.<\/p>\n In its filing, the network said that it was submitting the applications under duress, and that the timing of the F.C.C.\u2019s demand \u201cmakes the retaliatory purpose unmistakable.\u201d The order had come just after President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, called for the firing of the ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke he told about them in a monologue.<\/p>\n Brendan Carr, the F.C.C. chairman, has denied the connection. Rather, he said, the agency was acting out of concern that ABC was not fully cooperating with an F.C.C. investigation into its diversity and inclusion policies.<\/p>\n In a statement late Thursday, Mr. Carr reiterated that stand, saying ABC was failing to take seriously the agency\u2019s examination of allegations that ABC acted \u201cin violation of federal nondiscrimination laws,\u201d which ABC denies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe F.C.C. will follow the facts and law wherever they may lead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The filing was the second time this month<\/a> that ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, accused the F.C.C. of violating its free speech rights because of what it has called \u201cspeech the government does not like.\u201d (The earlier accusation came in a standoff over a smaller regulatory matter involving political appearances on \u201cThe View.<\/a>\u201d) Mr. Trump has attacked the network for years, and even sued ABC in 2024. Disney paid<\/a> $15 million to settle that lawsuit before Mr. Trump\u2019s second inauguration.<\/p>\n The filing on Thursday focuses on the eight stations the network owns in major markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. (It provides programming to more than 240 other stations owned by others.) <\/p>\n The application starts the clock for a process that could culminate in a trial before an administrative law judge<\/a> or a hearing before the full commission, which Mr. Carr controls.<\/p>\n It is exceedingly hard for the government to revoke station licenses under the law, and the process for trying to do so would most likely outlast Mr. Trump\u2019s presidency. But a hearing could come much sooner, giving Mr. Trump and Mr. Carr, his lead attacker against the major networks, a high-profile venue at which to hurl accusations of bias against a presidential media b\u00eate noire.<\/p>\n