Carr has stated that the call for re-applications—which went out in late April, and which could culminate in the FCC yanking the ABC-owned networks (which cover several major markets, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York) off the air—has absolutely nothing to do with the White House’s spittle-flecked disdain for ABC’s programming, and is entirely about “concerns” that the Disney-owned network is behaving in a discriminatory fashion by continuing to enact DEI policies. ABC’s response is essentially a multi-tiered reply of “Horseshit!” noting that a) it complied with Donald Trump’s attacks on DEI back at the start of his second term, b) even if some of its stations hadn’t, outright threatening their license to broadcast would be a massive overreach, and c) no, seriously, horseshit: Given that Disney had been complying just fine with the government’s investigation into its hiring practices for more than a year with no comment or complaint from the FCC, “The only plausible reason to issue the Order is to punish the Station for speech the government does not like.” (Among other things, the letter notes the frequent protests from Carr’s fellow commissioner, Anna M. Gomez, the sole Biden-appointee on the three-person Commission, whose job these days is basically to issue regular press statements in which she assures the public that, yes, she knows the things her colleagues are doing are fucked.)
Disney’s lawyers lay it out bluntly near the end: “When a broadcaster must weigh regulatory retaliation before making editorial decisions, the public loses access to journalism that is free from government influence.” Of course, all of this was also accompanied by the bit where ABC still had to actually file the renewal applications, because the alternative would be open war with the United States government; it remains to be seen how much support Disney will be able to drum up for itself, since the idea of Carr reading a strongly-worded letter and going, “Oh, hey, you know what, that is kind of draconian and authoritarian, huh?” and changing course is a fantasy not even Disney can sell.
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