The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday ordered The Walt Disney Company to file early renewal applications for the eight ABC-owned television stations, accelerating a process that was not scheduled to begin until 2028 at the earliest. Disney has until May 28 to comply.
The order, signed by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, puts licenses in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and four other major markets into a regulatory review that public-interest lawyers say can stretch for years. It lands four days after ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel called first lady Melania Trump an "expectant widow" in a sketch, and three days after a gunman was tackled outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
What the order says
Carr's letter ties the early renewal to a yearlong investigation of Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion practices that the agency opened in March 2025 under the Communications Act of 1934. The order names eight stations: three in California and others in Illinois, New York, Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. It does not reach ABC affiliates owned by Nexstar Media Group or Sinclair.
"As the agency decision makes clear, the early renewal order is based on a long running FCC investigation into Disney's DEI conduct, not any speech," an FCC spokesperson told NBC News.
NBC News, citing a source with knowledge of the matter, reported that the proceeding was fast-tracked after Kimmel's monologue. President Trump and White House communications director Steven Cheung have publicly called for ABC to fire the host. Disney confirmed receipt of the order and said in a statement that the company is "prepared to show" its qualifications "through the appropriate legal channels."
The Kimmel sequence
Kimmel delivered the line during a parody of an alternative correspondents' dinner that aired Thursday. Two days later, Cole Allen, a 31-year-old Californian, was charged with attempting to assassinate the president after Secret Service officers stopped him outside the Hilton ballroom. On Monday, Kimmel defended the joke on air, saying it was "not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination."
It is the second time in eight months Carr has put ABC on notice. Disney briefly suspended "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in September after Kimmel tied the killing of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk to the "MAGA gang." Nexstar and Sinclair pre-empted the show for nine days before it returned.
The pushback
Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the three-person commission, called the order "the most egregious action this FCC has taken in violation of the First Amendment to date." Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NPR the agency "has just pulled out a sword to hang over every single news organization in America." The Knight First Amendment Institute, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Reporters Without Borders and PEN America all condemned the move.
The FCC and its chairman dispute that framing. Carr has said publicly that an accelerated review is a tool the statute hands the commission when it has "significant concerns" about a licensee's public-interest performance, and the agency points to the DEI inquiry, not the monologue, as the trigger. No Republican commissioner or White House official has publicly defended the order beyond the spokesperson.
Disney has 30 days to file. Any hearing designation order would follow, opening a process that public-interest lawyer Andrew J. Schwartzman told NPR could take years.