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ABC11 and other television stations owned by The Walt Disney Co. have taken its fight with the federal government to the public.
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Disney, which owns ABC and eight ABC television stations, kicked off a public awareness campaign Monday, June 22, asking viewers to support its license renewal with the Federal Communications Commission and ABC’s petition that “The View” qualify for an FCC “bona fide” news exception.
“ABC11 has proudly served the Raleigh, Durham and Fayetteville area for more than 70 years,” according to ABC11’s Facebook post. “The FCC is questioning our commitment to viewers by threatening to take us off the air. Use your voice and tell the FCC that North Carolina deserves to keep its trusted local station WTVD.”
The post takes people to ABC11’s website, which encourages people to tell the “FCC to keep WTVD on the air” and to submit a public comment to the FCC. ABC11 is The News & Observer’s newsgathering partner.
The FCC, which regulates broadcasters including radio and television stations, ordered eight Disney-owned ABC stations, including ABC11, to file early license renewals on April 28, The News & Observer previously reported.
ABC11 declined to comment.
In a statement, Disney said “ABC and its stations have a long record of operating in full compliance with FCC rules and serving their local communities with trusted news, emergency information, and public‑interest programming.”
Disney and the stations submitted their renewal applications early and objected to the “unlawful, arbitrary and unconstitutional order,” according to the May 28 application. ABC11’s license renewal was originally set for 2028.
The FCC began investigating Disney for its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and stated in its order “the FCC has been investigating Disney’s ABC stations for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination.”
But the timing has raised questions from First Amendment and legal experts.
The early renewal order came shortly after the White House and Trump administration called on ABC to fire late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who joked about first lady Melania Trump during a parody of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
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The FCC also opened an investigation into ABC’s daytime talk show “The View” after it featured James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, for potentially violating the equal-time rules. Those rules require non-news programs to give comparable air-time opportunities for political rivals.
Late-night and daytime entertainment talk shows have been classified as bona fide news for the purpose of interview segments and exempt to the equal-time rules.
The public awareness campaign by Disney, ABC and its stations is timed with the FCC’s solicitation of public comments on the license renewals and “The View.”
The FCC was flooded with over 16,000 messages, mostly in support of the network and “The View,” since the public campaign began, The Wrap reported.
ABC11, and other Triangle television stations, censored portions of the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup rally during team speeches, which contained expletives.
Profane language is prohibited from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. resulting in the largest FCC warnings, fines and other consequences, and the censored portions were likely risk management for the stations, said Israel Balderas, a First Amendment attorney and media law professor at Elon University.
“If I was a news director or a GM, I would say, ‘Look, I don’t want to add more fodder to this other issue, so let’s play it safe,’” he said. “So certainly that other legal FCC fight was in the mind of the people back at the station.”
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Reporter Faith Wardwell contributed to this report.