Trump wants Disney-owned ABC to lose its broadcast licenses after refusing to air speech
After ABC and NBC carried his Thursday speech on streaming instead of broadcast, President Trump said “fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.” The FCC already has an early license review open on eight Disney-owned ABC stations. Here’s what’s actually true about the threat.
President Donald Trump used his Thursday primetime address to call for ABC and NBC to lose their broadcast licenses, because they didn’t carry it live.
“In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech. They knew what it was about,” he said from the East Room. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”
ABC is owned by Disney. And the FCC already has a review open on eight of its stations.
What each network actually did
ABC News carried the speech live on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio, its free streaming platforms, but not on the broadcast channel. NBC News did the same on NBC News NOW.
CNN didn’t carry it live either. The White House rapid response account went after them too.
CBS aired most of the address in a special segment anchored by Tony Dokoupil, alongside disclaimers about the president’s past statements on the 2020 election.
And Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliates preempted network programming to run the speech through its National News Desk service. Which turns out to matter.
The FCC has already moved on eight Disney-owned ABC stations
In April, the FCC ordered an early review of license renewals for eight Disney-owned ABC television stations. The National Association of Broadcasters called the agency’s actions “nearly unprecedented.”
FCC chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, has denied the review resulted from any external “pressure” or “suggestion” from the White House. Carr has also publicly supported the president’s calls to revoke network licenses, and his FCC has an open investigation into ABC’s The View over federal equal-time rules, plus a probe of NBC parent Comcast over DEI.
Carr hasn’t said whether more early renewals are coming.
So the threat is legally dubious and materially real at the same time. The revocation may be impossible. The review is already scheduled.
Why the networks were cautious: $787 million
Here’s the reason most coverage skips, and it isn’t politics.
Per Axios, networks have been careful about airing unverified claims regarding the 2020 election “especially following Fox News’ $787 million defamation settlement that it paid for airing election lies.”
Every network legal department watched Fox write that check. The speech’s subject was election fraud claims, and the address accused China of illegally accessing U.S. voter data.
Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, disputed the substance: “It’s pretty laughable to watch Trump try and pretend accessing the voter file is the same thing as election interference. Any statewide candidate will tell you that information is publicly available to purchase — it’s not some huge breach.”
Live, unedited, a network owns whatever gets said. That’s a legal calculation, not an editorial one.
The networks did this to Biden in 2022
The precedent that keeps not getting mentioned.
In 2022, ABC, CBS, and NBC all declined to broadcast President Joe Biden’s primetime address on threats to democracy. Critics said it was a partisan speech aimed at the midterms rather than an urgent national update.
Same networks. Same objection. Different president. And no one’s license got threatened.
Per Deadline, the networks have also bypassed prior Biden and Barack Obama addresses on request. “Networks decline a president’s primetime request” is not new, and it has not historically broken along party lines.
What the two sides are saying
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Pathetically, in true authoritarian fashion, he even threatened to revoke the licenses of ABC and NBC because they would not cover his speech. Insane. Too many Americans have fought and died to defend American democracy.”
A broadcaster advocate quoted by Deadline: “Those editorial decisions are protected by the First Amendment, and the FCC has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech. This is a naked attempt to bully broadcasters, and the FCC should have no part in it.”
The other side of it is the president’s own stated case: that the networks skipped the speech because “they don’t like the topic, because they know how corrupt our system is, and they don’t want to reveal it,” and that this constitutes bias worth acting on.
And the FCC’s own former chair, Jessica Rosenworcel, drew the line in 2024, when Trump said CBS should lose its license over a 60 Minutes edit: “The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”
What happens next
Nobody loses a license over Thursday night. That isn’t the mechanism, and the entities named don’t hold the things being threatened.
But eight Disney-owned stations are in early review at an agency whose chair agrees with the president about the networks, and Disney has an August 6 FCC vote on local ownership rules sitting on the same calendar.
The threat doesn’t have to work to work.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Forbes, Axios, and The Washington Post (July 16-17, 2026), verified the president’s remarks during his Thursday primetime address from the East Room that “in a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech. They knew what it was about” and that “fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses,” his additional comment that the networks “don’t like the topic, because they know how corrupt our system is, and they don’t want to reveal it,” the White House rapid response account also criticizing CNN, ABC News carrying the speech on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio while NBC News used NBC News NOW, CNN not carrying it live, CBS airing most of the address in a special segment anchored by Tony Dokoupil with disclaimers about the president’s past statements on the 2020 election, Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliates preempting programming to air it via The National News Desk, and the address accusing China of illegally accessing U.S. voter data
Reason, Time, and Deadline (2024-2026), verified the regulatory and legal facts — that ABC and NBC do not hold broadcast licenses while their local affiliates do, most of which are owned by parties other than the networks, the FCC’s April order for an early review of license renewals for eight Disney-owned ABC television stations, the National Association of Broadcasters describing the agency’s actions as “nearly unprecedented,” FCC chair Brendan Carr denying the review resulted from White House pressure or suggestion while having publicly supported revoking network licenses, the FCC’s open investigation into ABC’s The View over equal-time rules and its probe of NBC parent Comcast over DEI, and former FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s 2024 statement that “the FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage”
Axios, Deadline, and Time (July 2026), verified the context and reactions — networks’ caution about airing unverified 2020 election claims following Fox News’ $787 million defamation settlement, Sen. Mark Warner’s statement disputing the China voter-file claim, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “in true authoritarian fashion” remarks, a broadcaster advocate’s statement that the editorial decisions are First Amendment-protected and that “the FCC has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech,” and the 2022 precedent in which ABC, CBS and NBC all declined to broadcast President Joe Biden’s primetime address on threats to democracy amid criticism it was aimed at the midterms, alongside prior bypassed Biden and Obama addresses