Overview
- This week the Media Research Center filed a petition urging the FCC to deny renewal of eight ABC‑owned broadcast licenses, accusing ABC of partisan bias, electioneering, selective coverage, and spreading misinformation.
- Last week two liberal‑aligned groups, Frequency Forward and the Media Action Center, filed procedural petitions to deny that instead ask the FCC to grant unconditional renewals while preserving those groups’ legal standing to challenge any later settlement or enforcement move.
- The early review was initiated this spring by FCC Chair Brendan Carr after he called up the eight renewals for additional scrutiny over Disney/ABC’s cooperation with a probe into corporate DEI policies, and Carr has said revocation remains a possible outcome.
- ABC has launched an on‑air campaign asking viewers to support its renewals and to argue that The View qualifies as a news interview program in a separate FCC docket, while Democratic commissioner Anna Gomez and other critics say the process looks politically driven.
- If the FCC does not resolve the record, the technical filings and mass comment drives make administrative hearings and federal court appeals likely, a dispute that will test how the agency enforces public‑interest rules and respond to claims of partisan pressure on broadcasters.