ABC can beat Trump FCC’s license threat if owner Disney is willing to fight

如果迪士尼愿意抗争，ABC完全有能力应对特朗普政府FCC的执照威胁

Disney will have the law on its side in its fight against the unusual broadcast license review ordered yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission, legal experts say. In 1996, Congress made it a lot harder for the FCC to take away a broadcast license, even when it’s up for renewal. 法律专家表示，在应对美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）昨日下令进行的异常广播执照审查时，迪士尼在法律层面占据优势。1996年，国会大幅提高了FCC吊销广播执照的门槛，即使是在执照续期阶段也是如此。

“Since the NAB [National Association of Broadcasters] got an amendment in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, denying renewal to a broadcaster faces an almost insurmountable burden,” Andrew Jay Schwartzman, senior counselor of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, told Ars this week. 本顿宽带与社会研究所（Benton Institute for Broadband & Society）高级顾问安德鲁·杰伊·施瓦茨曼（Andrew Jay Schwartzman）本周对Ars表示：“自从全美广播协会（NAB）在《1996年电信法》中推动了一项修正案后，拒绝向广播公司续发执照面临着几乎无法逾越的举证负担。”

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a major update to the Communications Act, the 1934 law that established the FCC and provides the agency with its legal authority. “Although the FCC generally acts under the ‘public interest’ standard when granting and regulating licenses, the Act imposes more limits on FCC actions that would cancel licenses or deny their renewal or transfer,” Northwestern University law professor James Speta wrote last year in the Yale Journal on Regulation. 《1996年电信法》是对《1934年通信法》的一次重大更新，后者确立了FCC的地位并赋予其法律权力。西北大学法学教授詹姆斯·斯佩塔（James Speta）去年在《耶鲁监管杂志》上写道：“尽管FCC在授予和监管执照时通常遵循‘公共利益’标准，但该法案对FCC取消执照或拒绝续期、转让执照的行为施加了更多限制。”

The Yale Journal article was written in response to previous threats to ABC issued by Trump and Carr. The key change in 1996 was that “Congress eliminated the former process of comparative renewal hearings, under which broadcasters would have to show that their offerings are the best among any others seeking to take over the license,” Speta wrote. “The Act also generally requires that, before a license can be revoked, the FCC establish, on the basis of evidence, that the licensee has engaged in ‘willful or repeated’ violations of the Act, FCC rules, or its license.” 这篇《耶鲁监管杂志》的文章是针对特朗普和卡尔（Carr）此前对ABC发出的威胁而撰写的。斯佩塔写道，1996年的关键变化在于“国会取消了以往的比较续期听证程序，在该程序下，广播公司必须证明其节目内容优于其他任何寻求接管执照的竞争者。该法案还普遍要求，在吊销执照前，FCC必须基于证据证明被许可人存在‘故意或重复’违反法案、FCC规则或其执照条款的行为。”

Early renewal is rarely used tactic

提前续期是一种罕见的策略

As previously reported, the FCC yesterday issued an order instructing ABC owner Disney to file early license renewal applications for all of its licensed TV stations by May 28. The FCC order came one day after President Trump and the first lady called on ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel over a recent joke saying that Melania Trump looked like an “expectant widow.” Kimmel made the joke during a skit in which he pretended to deliver a roast at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. 正如之前报道的那样，FCC昨日发布命令，要求ABC的所有者迪士尼在5月28日前为其所有持牌电视台提交提前续期申请。此前一天，特朗普总统和第一夫人曾要求ABC解雇吉米·坎摩尔（Jimmy Kimmel），原因是他最近开玩笑称梅拉尼娅·特朗普看起来像个“准寡妇”。坎摩尔是在一段模仿白宫记者晚宴脱口秀的短剧中开了这个玩笑。

Schwartzman said it has been “many decades” since the FCC invoked the early renewal provision against a large broadcaster. The process itself doesn’t change a license’s actual expiration date, and ABC’s eight TV stations are scheduled for renewals between 2028 and 2031. “This simply accelerates a process that takes years,” Schwartzman said. “The idea is that if you know there is a problem, start the proceeding now.” 施瓦茨曼表示，FCC已经有“几十年”没有对大型广播公司动用过提前续期条款了。这一程序本身并不会改变执照的实际到期日，ABC旗下的八家电视台原定于2028年至2031年间进行续期。施瓦茨曼说：“这只是加速了一个原本需要数年的过程。其逻辑是，如果你认为有问题，那就现在开始调查。”

The FCC order didn’t mention Kimmel but said the agency “has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.” This seems to be a reference to Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices, which FCC Chairman Brendan Carr claims are a form of discrimination. FCC的命令中并未提及坎摩尔，但表示该机构“一直在调查迪士尼旗下的ABC电视台，调查其是否存在违反《1934年通信法》及FCC规则的行为，包括违反该机构关于禁止非法歧视的规定。”这似乎是指迪士尼的多元化、公平和包容性（DEI）实践，FCC主席布伦丹·卡尔（Brendan Carr）声称这些做法是一种歧视。

Although the FCC probe is ostensibly over alleged violations of anti-discrimination rules, it’s widely seen as retaliation against ABC because of Trump and Carr’s many comments alleging that the network is biased. Carr threatened ABC station licenses in September 2025 over comments made by Kimmel, and Trump sued ABC in 2024 over statements made by George Stephanopoulos. Trump subsequently obtained a $15 million settlement. 尽管FCC的调查表面上是针对涉嫌违反反歧视规则的行为，但外界普遍认为这是对ABC的报复，因为特朗普和卡尔多次指责该电视网存在偏见。卡尔曾在2025年9月因坎摩尔的言论威胁要吊销ABC的执照，而特朗普曾在2024年因乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯（George Stephanopoulos）的言论起诉ABC，随后特朗普获得了1500万美元的和解金。

“Even after paying off the president last year, ABC is once again under attack by this administration,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote yesterday. “This should be a lesson to all who capitulate to the president: You cannot buy his favor, you can only rent it.” 加州民主党参议员亚当·希夫（Adam Schiff）昨日写道：“即使去年已经向总统支付了赔偿，ABC再次受到本届政府的攻击。这对所有向总统屈服的人来说应该是一个教训：你无法买断他的青睐，你只能暂时租用它。”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) criticized Carr’s 2025 attack on Kimmel and weighed in yesterday on the license proceeding. “It is not government’s job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police,” Cruz told Punchbowl News. 德克萨斯州共和党参议员泰德·克鲁兹（Ted Cruz）批评了卡尔2025年对坎摩尔的攻击，并于昨日对此次执照审查程序发表了看法。克鲁兹告诉Punchbowl News：“审查言论不是政府的工作，我不认为FCC应该充当言论警察。”

FCC can’t define “public interest” however it wants

FCC不能随心所欲地定义“公共利益”

The FCC indicated that the license renewal proceeding will cover more than just DEI, saying in yesterday’s order that an early license renewal “enables the FCC to ensure that the broadcaster has been meeting its public interest obligations more broadly.” Despite this expansive language, legal experts say the FCC has little room under the law to deny license renewals. FCC表示，执照续期程序将涵盖DEI以外的内容，并在昨日的命令中称，提前续期“使FCC能够确保广播公司更广泛地履行其公共利益义务。”尽管措辞宽泛，但法律专家表示，根据法律，FCC几乎没有空间拒绝执照续期。

“Although the Communications Act says that the FCC shall issue licenses based on the ‘public interest,’ the Act has never been read to allow the government to define the public interest as anything the government says it is,” Speta wrote in his article last year. “The Supreme Court has confirmed that the Communications Act does not grant the FCC the power to ban controversial speech. Moreover, the Act’s broad considerations in granting licenses are cabined more strictly when it comes to license cancellations. And Congress specifically amended the Communications Act in 1996 to limit the government’s power to deny license renewals.” 斯佩塔在去年的文章中写道：“尽管《通信法》规定FCC应基于‘公共利益’颁发执照，但该法案从未被解读为允许政府将‘公共利益’定义为政府想说的任何内容。最高法院已确认，《通信法》并未授予FCC禁止争议性言论的权力。此外，该法案在授予执照时的广泛考量，在涉及取消执照时受到了更严格的限制。而且，国会在1996年专门修订了《通信法》，以限制政府拒绝执照续期的权力。”

Proving that ABC engaged in willful or repeated violations of the law is no easy task, and the process would take years assuming that ABC owner Disney is willing to fight. ABC would keep its licenses throughout that time. “The broadcaster can continue to operate during the years-long process of agency review and court appeals,” Schwartzman said. 证明ABC存在故意或重复违法行为绝非易事，如果ABC的所有者迪士尼愿意抗争，这一过程将耗时数年。在此期间，ABC将保留其执照。施瓦茨曼说：“在长达数年的机构审查和法院上诉过程中，广播公司可以继续运营。”

Denying license renewals was difficult even under the pre-1996 process, according to a 2006 article in the Federal Communications Law Journal by George Washington University’s Christopher Sterling. “While few licenses were ever challenged in so-called comparative renewals, and fewer still denied, the issue remained hotly controversial and kept legions of attorneys busy at a high cost to broadcasters even if licenses were nearly always renewed…” 根据乔治华盛顿大学克里斯托弗·斯特林（Christopher Sterling）2006年在《联邦通信法律杂志》上发表的一篇文章，即使在1996年之前的程序下，拒绝执照续期也很困难。“虽然在所谓的比较续期中很少有执照受到挑战，被拒绝的更是寥寥无几，但这个问题一直极具争议，并让大批律师忙得不可开交，给广播公司带来了高昂的成本，尽管执照几乎总是能获得续期……”