ABC Accuses FCC, Brendan Carr of Wanting "Editor's Chair" on The View

Posted in: ABC, TV | Tagged: fcc, The View

ABC Accuses FCC, Brendan Carr of Wanting "Editor's Chair" on The View

ABC is accusing the FCC of wanting an "editor's chair" on The View, and questions why the FCC doesn't hold radio to the same standards.

Published Tue, 07 Jul 2026 11:37:08 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

• ABC says the FCC wants an editor’s chair on The View, calling its Equal Time push a major First Amendment threat.
• The View is at the center of ABC’s claim that Brendan Carr’s FCC is targeting TV shows seen as hostile to Trump.
• ABC argues the FCC is singling out The View and daytime TV while ignoring talk radio packed with right-wing hosts.
• Disney’s ABC stations say forced early license renewals are retaliation and warn viewers could lose independent voices.

Once again, Disney-owned ABC is taking the fight to Donald Trump's Federal Communications Commission and FCC head Brendan Carr. A quick history lesson? Previously, Carr's FCC ordered Disney to "file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days." What that meant was that instead of going through the renewal process in 2028 and 2031, Disney's 8 ABC stations (Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno) were required to have their paperwork in by May 28th, 2026. Though Carr claims the move is part of the FCC's investigation into the company's DEI practices, Disney sees it as retaliation for past issues that the Trump Administration has had with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. In addition, the FCC has also targeted the popular daytime talk show The View, calling into question whether the talker should be classified as a legitimate news program and subject to the "Equal Time" rule.

Following up on a media campaign aimed at pushing back against the FCC by asking viewers to have their voices heard, ABC continued making its case that Carr's FCC is retaliating against both the network and its parent company, Disney, over political issues in its latest court filing. Noting that a "broad and cross-ideological consensus of commenters" during the FCC's public comment proceedings backs the network and the daytime talk show, ABC argued that the FCC was looking to have an "editor's chair" on The View – a clear First Amendment violation.

"The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor's chair. Yet that is the seat the Commission now proposes to take— deciding which broadcast programs qualify as legitimate news and, for those it finds wanting, compelling them to surrender their airtime to guests they never chose to feature," wrote ABC's legal team, spearheaded by Paul Clement. ABC also questioned why the FCC was focusing on daytime television and the "Equal Time" rule, but not radio, which the FCC also oversees, and happens to also be heavily populated by Republicans and right-wing hosts.

The network again claimed that the show was being singled out by the administration, while other broadcasters, like talk radio programs, dominated by voices on the right, were not. In January, the FCC issued guidance warning that TV daytime and late night talk shows should not assume that they were exempt from the Equal Time rule; the guidance did not address radio.

"The Commission has trained its attention on daytime and late-night television—programs perceived as unfriendly to the current administration—while leaving untouched the vast landscape of talk radio, where candidates routinely appear without their opponents. A rule pressed against one set of speakers and quietly suspended for another, along lines that track the administration's political preferences, is not evenhanded regulation," the court filing read.

In June, ABC moved forward with promo spots during The View on the network's local stations and on digital platforms, urging viewers to have their voices heard by the FCC. Beginning with a clip of veteran journalist and host Barbara Walters, the segment noted: "The View' has welcomed your favorite guests for nearly 30 years. Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Tell the FCC to let the viewers decide."

ABC also ran spots on its stations in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno, warning viewers that the FCC "is questioning our commitment to viewers by threatening to take us off the air" and urging them to speak out. "ABC7 has proudly served the New York area for more than 75 years. Now the FCC is questioning our commitment to viewers by threatening to take us off the air. Use your voice and tell the FCC that New York deserves to keep its trusted local station WABC," was an example of the spot for WABC-TV in New York.

At the end of May, ABC submitted the renewal applications for renewal, with the Disney-owned stations making it clear that they were doing it "under protest" and that they recognized Carr's actions for what they are: "an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices" that is a threat to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. "The Commission had not demanded early renewal in over five decades. And it has never before demanded simultaneous license renewal applications from a group of stations commonly owned with a network as it has here," states the filing from WABC New York. "The Order has no legitimate purpose."

The filing continued, "The timing of the Order makes the retaliatory purpose unmistakable. The Order suddenly emerged the day after public calls for punitive action in response to comments made during ABC Network programming." The stations argue that TV viewers are the real losers when the government looks to control a free press and freedom of speech. "The ultimate injury here is not to the Station or its parent company. It is to the public. When a broadcaster must weigh regulatory retaliation before making editorial decisions, the public loses access to journalism that is free from government influence," the filing reads. "The Order – both on its own terms and as a signal to other broadcasters – advances exactly that result. A press that edits itself to avoid government displeasure is not a free press. The Commission should not be the instrument of that outcome."

To that end, Disney's ABC stations also noted in their filings that Carr's move is an example of suppression, not regulation. "Simultaneously forcing every station in a media company's portfolio to file premature license renewal applications is not a regulatory tool. It is an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices, which sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America. This is a threat to the First Amendment that this Commission and this proceeding must not be permitted to normalize," the filing stated.

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