• by Wendy Davis , Yesterday

The Federal Communications Commission's decision to review ABC's broadcast licenses for eight television stations it owns marks "a grave violation of both the Communications Act and the Constitution," former agency officials including six bipartisan ex-commissioners argued Tuesday in a filing with the agency.

"Through this proceeding, the FCC seeks to censor Disney’s and ABC’s speech and send a chilling message to all broadcasters: carry speech we don’t like at your peril," officials including former FCC Chairs Tom Wheeler (appointed by Obama), Alfred Sikes (George H.W. Bush appointee), Mark Fowler (appointed by Reagan) and Dennis Patrick (also appointed by Reagan) argue.

Along with other ex-commissioners and various former officials, they are urging the FCC to end the "improper early renewal proceeding."

"The Commission was long dedicated to ensuring that broadcast spectrum helped to create the marketplace of ideas that undergirds robust political debate," the officials say. "We have taken great pride in the Commission’s historically bipartisan commitment to that position, and we fear our democracy will suffer greatly if the Chairman continues to flout it."

The filing comes in a licensing battle that began in April, when the FCC demanded that the network seek an immediate review of broadcast licenses for television stations it owns in eight major markets -- including New York and Los Angeles.

The broadcast licenses normally would not have come up for renewal until 2028, but the FCC said it was conducting an early review as part of its investigation into alleged "unlawful discrimination" -- meaning diversity, equity and inclusion efforts -- by the network.

The agency launched the investigation one day after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that Disney and ABC should "immediately" fire Jimmy Kimmel over a joke that Trump characterized as a "despicable call to violence." (In the joke, which aired two days before the April White House Correspondent's Dinner, Kimmel said, "Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.")

FCC Chair Brendan Carr has said the review was not related to content.

But the former officials obviously disagree.

"This renewal proceeding is the latest attack in a sustained campaign by Chairman Carr and the Trump administration of threatening legal sanctions against licensees whose speech President Trump dislikes," they argue. "And although the purported justification for the early renewal proceeding is that it is in aid of a Commission investigation into unlawful employment discrimination, it is in fact an assault on free speech disguised as regulatory process."

In addition to launching an early review of ABC licenses, the FCC also is investigating whether interview on "The View" with Texas State Rep. James Talarico, who was then seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, violated the so-called equal-time rule.

That rule broadly says broadcasters that give free air time to "legally qualified" candidates must also offer their rivals an opportunity for free air time. But the rule has exceptions for "bona fide" newscasts, interviews and documentaries, and in 2002 the FCC's Media Bureau said "The View" qualified for that exception.

ABC recently petitioned the FCC to declare that the "The View" continues to be exempt because it's a bona fide news interview program, arguing that there is no basis to overturn the 2002 ruling.

"By forcing broadcasters to air all qualified candidates without regard to their newsworthiness, the rule squelches editorial discretion," ABC wrote.