{"id":209117,"date":"2026-04-28T20:19:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/fcc-to-direct-disney-owned-tv-stations-to-file-early-license-renewals-source-says-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:19:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:19:31","slug":"fcc-to-direct-disney-owned-tv-stations-to-file-early-license-renewals-source-says-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/fcc-to-direct-disney-owned-tv-stations-to-file-early-license-renewals-source-says-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"FCC to direct Disney-owned TV stations to file early license renewals, source says – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Federal Communications Commission issued an order <\/a>Tuesday directing Disney\u2019s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule.
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The move is tied to a year-long investigation into Disney\u2019s DEI practices, a source with knowledge of the matter said, but it got fast-tracked after ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about first lady Melania Trump.
\u201cThe FCC determines that calling in Disney\u2019s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act\u2019s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,\u201d the agency said.
Disney owns and operates TV stations in markets such as Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. The licenses were not due to come up for renewal until 2028 at the earliest, according to the source. The stations have 30 days to comply with the FCC\u2019s order.
In a statement, a Disney spokesperson confirmed the company had received the FCC\u2019s order. \u201cABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public\u2011interest programming,\u201d they said.
\u201cWe are confident that record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels,\u201d the spokesperson added.
NBC News has reached out to all eight stations for comment. Semafor reported<\/a> earlier Tuesday that the FCC was preparing to review the Disney broadcast licenses.
Disney also owns local stations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Raleigh-Durham and Fresno.
The White House on Tuesday intensified pressure on ABC to fire Kimmel over his description of the first lady as an \u201cexpectant widow\u201d in a parody of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner <\/strong>on last Thursday\u2019s \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d
Two days later, a gunman opened fire<\/a> outside the correspondents’ association event in Washington.
The Trumps and top administration officials were rushed out of the Washington Hilton ballroom. The suspect faces three charges<\/a>, including attempting to assassinate the president of the United States.
\u201cI appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel\u2019s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,\u201d the president wrote in a social media post on Monday. \u201cJimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.\u201d
Kimmel, a regular subject of the president\u2019s ire, addressed the backlash<\/a> at the top of his show on Monday, framing his \u201cwidow\u201d comment as a joke about the 23-year age difference between the Trumps.
\u201cIt was a very light roast joke about the fact that he\u2019s almost 80 and she\u2019s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination,\u201d Kimmel said, adding that he believes the country should reject \u201chateful and violent rhetoric.\u201d
In a statement, FCC commissioner Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democratic appointee on the three-person panel, blasted the agency\u2019s push for early broadcast license renewals.
\u201cThis is unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere. It is a political stunt and it won\u2019t stick. Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.\u201d
Free Press, a progressive advocacy group, accused FCC Chairman Brendan Carr of \u201cusing his position of power to silence dissent at the president\u2019s beck and call. This extraordinary and unconstitutional attack on the media is nothing more than another favor to the most fragile president in U.S. history.\u201d
The furor around <\/strong>Kimmel comes seven months after ABC briefly suspended<\/a> his talk show amid a controversy over his comments about the political motivations of the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah.
\u201cThe MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,\u201d Kimmel said on his Sept. 15 show.
Investigators had not yet released details about the suspect\u2019s possible motive at the time. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said the suspect grew up in a conservative household in Utah but later became influenced by \u201cleftist ideology.\u201d
Carr at the time accused Kimmel of \u201cthe sickest conduct imaginable\u201d and suggested the FCC could revoke ABC affiliates\u2019 licenses as punishment.
Carr, who was appointed to chair the FCC by Trump, hinted earlier this year that his agency might conduct early license reviews. \u201cThe Communications Act authorizes the FCC to call in licenses for early renewal,\u201d Carr wrote in a March 14 post on X.
Chloe Melas is an entertainment correspondent for NBC News.\u00a0
Daniel Arkin is a senior reporter at NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeThe Federal Communications Commission issued an order Tuesday directing Disney\u2019s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The move is tied to a year-long investigation into Disney\u2019s DEI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}