FCC ordered ABC's eight station licence review one day after Trump called for Kimmel's firing

In April 2026 the FCC's Media Bureau forced ABC to reapply early for spectrum licences — the government permissions to transmit over public airwaves — for all eight owned-and-operated stations. The order came one day after President Trump publicly demanded Jimmy Kimmel's dismissal over a joke about Melania Trump. ABC's late-night programme had already been removed in September 2025. Chairman Brendan Carr denied White House pressure, citing a DEI discrimination investigation.