FCC Asks Court to Throw Out ABC’s Lawsuit Alleging TV License Review Violates First Amendment, as Agency Repeats Claim the Action Is Unrelated to Jimmy Kimmel or ‘The View’

The FCC asked a federal court Thursday to dismiss the First Amendment lawsuit ABC filed against the agency, arguing that the Disney-owned broadcaster failed to establish that the FCC’s early license renewal review for ABC‘s TV stations represents “retaliation” for disfavored speech.

ABC sued the FCC last month, alleging the commission was waging an “extraordinary assault” on its free-speech rights by threatening to pull licenses for its eight owned-and-operated local TV stations. The FCC continues to insist the ABC early license renewal was initiated out of the agency’s investigation into “allegations of unlawful discrimination” in employment practices at Disney and ABC — and is unrelated to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr‘s comments about Jimmy Kimmel, “The View” or any other programming.

ABC’s lawsuit alleged, “The Commission’s true target is not the Stations’ employment practices or their carriage of a single presidential address; it is the content of Plaintiffs’ programming — and thus their speech. Because the Commission cannot regulate that content directly, it has used its review of the Stations’ licenses as an instrument to the same end.”

In its Sept. 3 filing, the FCC disputed that framing. The agency’s lawyers argued that “Because Plaintiffs do not establish the necessary ‘causal…

Original source: https://variety.com/v/tv/