Trump administration challenges ABC station licenses amid Kimmel controversy | CNN Business

As the Trump administration pressures ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel, the Trump-aligned FCC is challenging the network’s station licenses, setting up a legal battle with ABC’s parent company Disney. “Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days — in other words, by May 28, 2026,” the agency said in an order published Tuesday afternoon. The order will not affect the local stations right away. It is just the start of a protracted legal process, and ABC has broad legal protections. Nevertheless, the FCC order is an extraordinary escalation by the Trump administration. While the FCC asserts that the license review is related to an ongoing probe into Disney’s diversity initiatives, it is being widely viewed as a form of government retaliation for airing Kimmel’s show and resisting Trump’s pressure. “This weapon certainly hasn’t been deployed against a major broadcaster in many decades,” public interest lawyer Andrew Jay Schwartzman told CNN. Disney responded to the FCC’s action by saying that “ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their loca