(Fixes typo in headline, changes to “viewers” from “views”)
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) – Disney-owned ABC said on Monday it was launching an on-air campaign encouraging viewers to show support for the network in its two ongoing battles with the U.S. government.
The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission ordered ABC in April to file early license reviews for its eight company-owned television stations after President Donald Trump pressured the regulatory agency to take action. The FCC is also investigating ABC daytime talk show “The View” after declaring it is subject to federal equal time rules for political candidates.
“The FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show,” says one of the on-air spots, encouraging viewers to file public comments with the agency. “Viewers use your voice.”
A license review is the FCC’s formal assessment of whether a station has served the public interest, and it can lead to renewal or revocation of its broadcast license.
ABC said the “The View” on-air spots will run during a commercial break within the hour of the show. It will also run image ads on ABC.com and social media sites.
The FCC did not immediately comment.
Last month, ABC said the early reviews were “unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional,” and violates the network’s First Amendment free speech rights.
The reviews were ordered in April a day after Trump urged ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
The FCC said the reviews, which were not supposed to begin until October 2028, were prompted by a year-long probe on the FCC’s ban on unlawful discrimination. The stations are located in Fresno, California, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, Houston and Durham, North Carolina.
“The FCC is questioning our commitment to the community,” another ABC spot says. “Show your support.”
Trump has repeatedly urged broadcasters to drop comedy or news programs he dislikes or which have been critical of him, pressing regulators to revoke licenses of broadcasters he says are unfair to him.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who was named to the job by Trump, opened an investigation in March 2025 into Disney’s diversity practices and said Disney submitted documents in the probe that he felt were insufficient – and has not ruled out seeking to revoke their licenses.
Carr defended the decision to call for the early reviews, saying, “If Disney engaged in illegal DEI discrimination, if it failed to operate broadcast stations in the public interest, it will be held accountable.”
Trump demanded in November that the FCC revoke ABC licenses after he criticized an ABC News correspondent for asking Saudi Arabia’s crown prince about the 2018 killing of a Washington Post columnist in a question he dubbed “insubordinate.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by William Maclean)
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