In a surprising turn of events, a coalition of conservative and free-market organizations has penned a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, urging him to maintain the established, routine nature of broadcast license renewals, a move that effectively defends ABC’s licenses against a review tied to Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. The groups, including the Center for Individual Freedom and Americans for Tax Reform, argue that transforming license renewals from a largely ministerial process into a discretionary checkpoint would politicize the system and create a dangerous precedent. They fear that future FCCs, potentially hostile to conservative or religious broadcasters, could wield this power to target disfavored media outlets. The letter emphasizes that the Telecommunications Act of 1996 made renewals ‘effectively presumptive’ to protect broadcasters from the constant threat of losing their franchise, and that historically, non-routine renewals have been reserved for extraordinary circumstances. By advocating for a predictable renewal process today, these conservative groups aim to deny future Commissions the tools and precedents they could use to target right-leaning media, thus safeguarding the broader landscape of non-liberal broadcasting.
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