A bipartisan group of former Federal Communications Commission chairs, commissioners and senior officials is urging the agency to terminate an accelerated license-renewal proceeding involving eight ABC-owned television stations.
The former officials said the review represents an unprecedented use of the FCC’s licensing authority and threatens broadcasters’ constitutionally protected editorial discretion.
“This early license renewal proceeding is unprecedented in the history of the Federal Communications Commission and a grave violation of both the Communications Act and the Constitution,” the group wrote in a filing submitted Tuesday. “Through this proceeding, the FCC seeks to censor Disney’s and ABC’s speech and send a chilling message to all broadcasters: carry speech we don’t like at your peril.”
Signatories included former FCC Chairmen Mark Fowler, Alfred Sikes and Tom Wheeler, former Commissioner Rachelle Chong and several former agency lawyers, advisers and bureau leaders who served under Republican and Democratic administrations.
The filing was supported by a handful of public interest groups, including the Protect Democracy Project and TechFreedom, and includes former FCC Commissioner nominee Gigi Sohn as listed council.
The FCC’s Media Bureau in April ordered Disney to submit early renewal applications for eight ABC-owned stations, more than two years before the licenses were scheduled to enter their normal renewal cycle.
The agency has said the proceeding is connected to an investigation into whether Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices (DEI) violated federal employment discrimination requirements.
The former officials rejected that explanation, calling the review “an assault on free speech disguised as regulatory process.” They also argued that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr appeared to have prejudged the matter and could seek the early termination of the stations’ licenses.
Disney filed the applications in May under protest, describing the order as “unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional.” The company later began airing messages encouraging viewers to submit comments to the FCC.
More than 150,000 comments have been filed in the proceeding. Interested parties have until August 5 to reply to petitions seeking denial of the renewals.
Two groups — the Center for American Rights and Media Research Center — have asked the FCC to reject the applications, citing concerns about ABC’s editorial practices and Disney’s employment policies.
The former FCC officials said those petitions improperly ask the commission to regulate “word choices, fact-checks, time covering certain topics, personnel, and the licensees’ perceived viewpoints.”
“As former Chairs, Commissioners, Chiefs of Staff, General Counsels and Bureau Chiefs, we call on the Commission to respect the constitutional and congressional prohibitions on its ‘power of censorship’ and terminate this proceeding,” the filing said.
Last week, Carr said ABC’s decision to not carry President Donald Trump’s prime-time address could weigh on his agency’s review of the network’s local TV broadcast licenses.
Anna Gomez, the only Democratic commissioner at the FCC, disputed the suggestion that broadcasters are required to carry presidential addresses.
“This vague public interest standard is being used just to punish speech that this administration doesn’t like and to reward speech that it does like,” Gomez said. “That’s inappropriate, and it’s contrary to the law and to the Constitution.”
