FCC to direct Disney-owned TV stations to file early license renewals, source says

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to issue an order Tuesday directing Disney’s eight owned-and-operated television stations to file their broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

The source described the move as “unprecedented” and directly tied to Jimmy Kimmel’s description of first lady Melania Trump as an “expectant widow” on an episode of his ABC late-night show last week.

Disney owns and operates TV stations in markets such as Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. The licenses were not due to come up for renewal until 2028 at the earliest, according to the source. The stations have 30 days to comply with the FCC’s order.

ABC and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NBC News has reached out to all eight stations for comment. Earlier Tuesday, Semafor reported that the FCC was preparing to review the Disney broadcast licenses.

The FCC will be probing whether the TV stations are complying with the agency’s public interest standards, according to the source. Disney also owns local stations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Raleigh-Durham and Fresno.

The White House on Tuesday intensified pressure on ABC to fire Kimmel over his description of the first lady as an “expectant widow” in a parody of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on last Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Two days later, a gunman opened fire outside the correspondents’ association event in Washington.

The Trumps and top administration officials were rushed out of the Washington Hilton ballroom. The suspect faces three charges, including attempting to assassinate the president of the United States.

“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,” the president wrote in a social media post on Monday. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”

Kimmel addressed the backlash at the top of his show on Monday, framing his “widow” comment as a joke about the 23-year age difference between the Trumps.

“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination,” Kimmel said, adding that he believes the country should reject “hateful and violent rhetoric.”

In a statement, FCC commissioner Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democratic appointee on the three-person panel, blasted the agency’s push for early broadcast license renewals.

“This is unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere. It is a political stunt and it won’t stick. Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.”

The criticism of Kimmel comes seven months after ABC briefly suspended his talk show amid a firestorm over his comments about the political motivations of the man accused of assassinating conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah.

“The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said on his Sept. 15 show.

Investigators had not yet released details about the suspect’s possible motive at the time. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said the suspect grew up in a conservative household in Utah but later became influenced by “leftist ideology.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr at the time accused Kimmel of “the sickest conduct imaginable” and suggested the FCC could revoke ABC affiliates’ licenses as punishment.

Carr, who was appointed to chair the FCC by Trump, hinted earlier this year that his agency might conduct early license reviews. “The Communications Act authorizes the FCC to call in licenses for early renewal,” Carr wrote in a March 14 post on X.

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