Carr Calls ABC Suit `Meritless'

WASHINGTON—In response to ABC’s lawsuit seeking to block the FCC’s early license renewal proceedings for ABC-owned stations, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has blasted the lawsuit as “a meritless case based on their own campaign of disinformation,” and insisted that “the FCC will follow the facts and the law wherever they go.”

In a post on X, which Carr regularly uses to make policy pronouncements, the agency’s Chair once again insisted that FCC rules regarding the public interest requirements of broadcast licenses give the agency authority to regulate programming.

“All broadcasters have an obligation to operate in the public interest—even Disney,” he posted. “Indeed, broadcasters made a deal with the American public—in exchange for free access to a valuable public resource (the airwaves) they agreed to meet their public interest obligations. This sets them apart from cable channels or podcasts or newspapers.”

In a video accompanying the post, he also stressed that the FCC has not made an official decision on its DEI investigation but added that the investigation must have unsettled Disney.

"We have made no decision, but now Disney has rushed to court to try to stop the FCC from moving forward," he said. "And apparently, I guess Disney must be very concerned and worried about that production."

[The video is available if you click on "see more" of the X post pasted below.]

On August 18, ABC filed a blistering First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, asking a federal court in the nation's capital to stop the controversial early broadcast license renewal proceedings ordered by the regulator.

The FCC instituted the proceeding as part of its investigation into DEI policies at the Disney and the ABC-owned stations in April, a decision that has drawn widespread condemnation from broadcasters, former FCC officials and others.