On May 8, 2026, NBC News and CBS News reported that ABC, Disney's broadcast network, had filed a 52-page document with the Federal Communications Commission accusing the Trump administration of violating the network's First Amendment rights with an 'equal time' investigation focused on the daytime talk show The View. NBC called the filing Disney's most pointed legal salvo against the administration since Trump returned to the White House. ABC argues the investigation has created a “chilling effect on First Amendment-protected free speech.”
The FCC's stated rationale: in February 2026, the FCC said it was looking into whether The View violated equal-time rules after a February 2 appearance by James Talarico, who was then running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Texas. (He went on to win the primary.) FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told reporters, “The FCC has an enforcement action underway on that.” Equal-time rules require broadcast stations to give equal opportunities to political candidates for the same office. ABC's argument: The View received an exemption from the rule in 2002 as a 'bona fide' news interview program, and ABC says “it has never been disputed” that the show qualifies. According to ABC's filing, the FCC required KTRK-TV, ABC's Houston station, at the end of March 2026 to file a new request asking whether The View still qualifies for the exemption.
ABC: “The Commission's order to file this Petition for Declaratory Ruling is unprecedented, beyond the Commission's authority, and counterproductive to the Commission's stated goal of encouraging free speech and open political discussion.” And: “The Commission's actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to 'The View' and more broadly.” And: “Some may dislike certain — or even most — of the viewpoints expressed on 'The View' or similar shows. Such dislike, however, cannot justify using regulatory processes to restrict those views.” The FCC said it will review Disney's assertion that The View is a bona fide news program and therefore exempt from the political equal-time rules.
The filing came a week after the FCC, in what NBC called an unusual move, announced an early review of the eight broadcast licenses owned and operated by ABC. That announcement came amid a clash between the White House and ABC over a joke late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made about first lady Melania Trump (see The FCC Orders Early License Reviews of All Disney TV Stations Days After Trump Demanded Kimmel Be Fired for a Melania Joke). Carr has said the license review stems from the agency's probe into Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion practices, not speech.
Update (October 2, 2026): On August 18, 2026, ABC sued the FCC in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the FCC's review of eight of Disney's licenses, the New York Post reported. The complaint says, “Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.” An FCC spokesperson said the agency had been examining claims of illegal DEI discrimination at Disney for over a year and that it “will continue to follow the facts and law wherever they lead.”
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry dated the filing to May 9, 2026 and said NBC News reported it that day; NBC and CBS both published on May 8, and the date has been corrected. It also said the FCC's April order covered all of Disney's TV stations; NBC reports the early review covers the eight stations ABC owns and operates. Statements that the case fits a pattern including FCC threats against CBS over Iran-war coverage and leverage over Paramount in the Ellison takeover, and the characterization of the case as a regulatory pretext, were removed because this entry's sources do not support them. The NBC citation, a news article, had been labeled a court document.