WASHINGTON—The Disney corporation today filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from applying aggressive regulatory actions against Disney and its ABC affiliates, including requiring the company to submit to an early review of its broadcast license.  

The following can be attributed to Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. 

“Disney is entirely justified in asking a court to stop the FCC’s attempt to coerce its broadcast stations’ programming through an unlawful campaign of regulatory scrutiny. The lawsuit makes clear that this campaign has already chilled ABC’s speech. The First Amendment prohibits the government from using regulatory threats to chill speech that the government doesn’t like, which is exactly what the FCC is doing here.”

For more information, contact: Lorraine Kenny, [email protected].