Consequence of the Kimmel crisis: Disney sues against 'total surrender' before the FCC

Disney & eight ABC channels defend themselves against FCC

The US media group Disney is taking the communications regulator FCC to court because the company sees the Trump administration’s attempts to interfere as an attempt to force the media’s “total surrender”. Disney lays down loudly Ars Technica on a large scale with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its boss Brendan Carr. The entertainment giant has filed a complaint in district court in the District of Columbia to stop the FCC’s action against the company and eight of its television stations.

Disney sees freedom of expression threatened

Disney also wants to obtain an injunction to prevent the FCC’s threatened refusal to award or renew broadcasting licenses for the ABC broadcasting group. In its lawsuit, Disney accuses the FCC of violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which regulates freedom of expression.

The government repeatedly tried to suppress expression at ABC because it didn’t like journalistic reports or commentary, Disney said. The FCC is now even going so far as to want to revoke ABC’s broadcasting rights because the group’s stations broadcast content that the current US government dislikes.

Court should prevent revocation of broadcasting licenses

The court is now supposed to prevent the early review of the broadcasting licenses of all eight ABC stations ordered by FCC boss Carr from continuing. Actually, the renewed extension of the broadcasting licenses for ABC would not have taken place until between 2028 and 2031, but Carr recently ordered an early review in order to put pressure on the broadcaster and thus also the Disney Group. In Disney’s opinion, the early review threatens to immediately shut down the ABC channels, as Trump has repeatedly demanded. According to the company’s lawyers, Disney therefore has no choice but to use all legal means to combat the threat of “total capitulation” to the demands of the current US government caused by the Trump FCC’s moves.

Kimmel-Witz called the FCC into action

The legal dispute stems from the scandal surrounding Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, which Disney briefly suspended in April 2026 in response to loud threats from the US government over a joke about the wife of the current US president. Since announcing its review of ABC’s licenses, the FCC has alleged that the broadcasters are violating anti-discrimination regulations, which have most recently been abused to eliminate any anti-discrimination measures against minorities or non-white people. In a statement to Ars Technica, an FCC spokesperson said Disney is once again trying to spread disinformation with its allegations.

Trump has been agitating against ABC for a long time

Disney and its ABC broadcasting group have long been a thorn in the side of Trump and his subordinate FCC boss Carr. During a debate between the candidates before the last presidential election in 2024, Trump threatened the station with action from the FCC before he was re-elected. He felt he was treated wrongly by the show’s presenters. In November 2025, Trump accused the moderator in an ABC interview that he and his broadcaster were constantly reporting negatively about the US President. Even then, he called for the broadcasting licenses to be revoked and described the ABC employee as a “terrible person and a terrible reporter.” A short time later, the White House issued a press release accusing ABC of being a propaganda machine for the US Democrats.

Trump speech not broadcast live

It was only in July that ABC once again drew Trump’s ire after various other episodes when the Disney-owned channels decided not to broadcast a speech by the US President live. During the speech, Trump called, among other things, for the shutdown of ABC and its competitor NBC, where his speech was also not broadcast live. In its complaint, Disney also stated that the FCC’s continued threats could cause significant harm to the company, especially in the context of the upcoming mid-term elections that will determine the composition of the US House of Representatives and the allocation of many governorships and seats in the US Senate. “Indeed, a commission bent on influencing reporting could hardly have chosen a more opportune time,” it said. “The plaintiffs must make editorial decisions about how to report on the election – under the sword of Damocles of the threat of corporate fines, and the Commission has every interest in letting this threat linger for as long as possible. Nor can this damage be reversed retrospectively.”