May 1, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / CBS News
Legal experts say the Federal Communications Commission would face steep legal and procedural hurdles if it tried to strip Disney of the broadcast licenses for its ABC television stations.
On Tuesday the FCC ordered an accelerated review of ABC’s licenses as part of an investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices. ABC operates eight local TV stations, including WABC-TV in New York and KABC-TV in Los Angeles.
The rushed review drew scrutiny because it followed a public call by President Trump for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired after a joke Kimmel made on his ABC show upset the president and first lady. Critics say the timing makes the move appear politically motivated.
“This is a way to put pressure on Disney and ABC to achieve different programming and to get them to fire Jimmy Kimmel,” said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, calling the timing “highly suspect.” Blair Levin, a policy analyst at New Street Research who previously worked at the FCC, wrote that the timing “is strong evidence that the motive for the early renewal process relates to the president’s call to fire Kimmel, not an ABC employment action.”
What the FCC alleges
The agency’s probe, opened in March 2025, examines whether Disney’s DEI policies violate federal anti-discrimination rules. In a letter last year to then-Disney CEO Robert Iger, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr argued that ABC’s mandatory “inclusion standards” may have produced racial or identity-based quotas across production. The FCC has also alleged race-based hiring practices and restrictions on corporate fellowships limited to selected demographic groups.
That inquiry took place amid wider efforts by the Trump administration to curtail DEI initiatives across employers, federal agencies and universities.
Disney did not respond to a CBS News request for comment. In a statement shared earlier this week, a Disney spokesperson said the company has a “long record” of complying with FCC rules and is “confident that the record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment” and that it will address the matter through appropriate legal channels.
The FCC declined to provide additional comment beyond Chairman Carr’s public remarks. Carr repeated the agency’s discrimination allegations, saying the evidence of problematic DEI practices dates back more than a year. He also noted the FCC recently asked another broadcaster, Bridge News, to file early license renewal applications.
“We’ve been very clear that we’re holding broadcasters accountable to their obligations — not just public interest standards, but [equal employment opportunity] obligations,” Carr said.
A rarely used sanction
Denying or revoking a broadcast license is uncommon. The FCC last denied several radio licenses in the 1970s after finding stations had been directed to give favorable coverage to certain political candidates, according to academic research. The National Association of Broadcasters warned that the FCC’s request for one company to reapply quickly for all licenses “runs contrary” to principles of predictability, fairness and transparency and creates uncertainty for broadcasters.
The legal bar
Experts note the FCC has two principal remedies related to licenses: refuse to renew a license at the end of its term, a process that can stretch for years while the station continues to operate; or revoke a license midterm, a far more drastic step that effectively forces a station off the air. The FCC’s order to Disney did not say it would pursue either outcome.
“There’s no way they would try to revoke the license. The legal standard is insurmountable,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a public-interest lawyer who focuses on media. He explained that revocation requires the FCC to prove the broadcaster committed egregious misconduct.
Challenging renewals also carries significant hurdles. The agency would have to document discriminatory practices, present its case before an administrative law judge, and obtain rulings for each station’s license — decisions that could be appealed and take years to resolve, said Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Corn-Revere said the FCC’s apparent focus on DEI issues looks unlikely to succeed if the agency tries to use them as a basis to challenge licenses. “If they’re really just noticing issues on DEI, then they would not be able to get into the programming issues,” he said. “And if they do list programming issues, they buy themselves a whole lot of trouble under the First Amendment.”
Edited by Alain Sherter