FCC launches license review of ABC stations amid Trump media fight

The Trump administration is using the enormous power of federal power to punish media outlets whose coverage is disparaged as being overly negative.

The president has long made harsh rhetorical attacks against companies like CNN and The New York Times, as well as individual journalists, and has filed numerous lawsuits against them. He even accused the press of “provocative” behavior. I think we’re used to it now.

But there’s a whole new level of tension that goes beyond scaring. Trump and his allies are pushing regulatory tools to force networks to spend a lot of time and money protecting their franchises.

And the biggest target right now is ABC.

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FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who demanded the firing of Jimmy Kimmel along with Trump, launched an investigation into local station licenses affiliated with the company owned by Disney. This legal battle will last for years and is unlikely to succeed; Only one license has ever been revoked, and that was half a century ago.

Think about it. Why would the license of an ABC-owned station in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles be jeopardized because a federal agency doesn’t like the network’s content?

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel addresses a new FCC threat on his January 21, 2026 show. (JimmyKimmelLive/ABC)

The ABC has produced 11,000 documents in the investigation so far, which gives you an idea of ​​the scope of the showdown.

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“The Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of established law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both on ‘The View’ and more broadly,” the ABC said in a legal filing.

Yes, “The View” is an all-female talk show founded in 1997 by Barbara Walters and distributed by ABC. This is now a bullseye within the larger goal.

The program often features a conservative to balance out the aggressively liberal Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar. But these days, conservative panelists are also strongly anti-Trump.

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The initial application was based at an ABC station in Houston, KTRK, stemming from a minor dispute with “The View.” And as the New York Times points out, the station’s paperwork was signed by former attorney general Paul Clement.

At issue is whether the program, which is part of ABC’s news division, would be exempt from equal time rules.

ABC said it invited J.D. Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Elon Musk, Kevin McCarthy and Marco Rubio, but they all declined, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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“The View” was granted an exemption as a news program in 2002.

Disney also notes that the FCC does not go after conservatives or liberals on radio.

We have seen these tactics in other areas as well. The Trump Justice Department filed an indictment against James Comey last fall, but it was dismissed by a judge. After Trump fired Pam Bondi for inconvenience, the department last month brought a second, much narrower indictment against Trump’s despised former FBI chief, based solely on the image of a seashell reading 86*47. Comey needs to hire a lawyer again.

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So much so that the media, even the most conservative legal commentators, are calling the case absurd.

National Review says Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy:

“Of course, Comey did not clearly intend to threaten bodily harm. More importantly, even if Comey’s mood was malicious, the seashell array would still be innocent as it is not an actionable threat…

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“The case should be dismissed from the preliminary hearing because ’86 47′ is not a real threat.”

According to information obtained by Fox News Digital, the Federal Communications Commission has launched an investigation into ABC’s “The View” program due to its policy regarding equal time for political candidates. (Lou Rocco/Getty Images)

Look, the administration did everything it could to crack down on the press, like kicking Pentagon reporters out of the building because they refused to submit to further censorship.

And Trump had previously collected at least $16 million each from lawsuits against CBS and ABC.

Moreover, Trump’s friend, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and his son David, who bought CBS without government intervention, may soon control CNN as well. The expectation is that they will shift the world’s first 24-hour broadcast network, whose founder Ted Turner died last week, in a more Trump-friendly direction.

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Choosing a network or program to retaliate is itself a form of partisanship.

And using the unchecked levers of government to the level of Whoopi Goldberg against unpopular journalists and programs is deeply troubling.