BURBANK (dpa-AFX) - Tuesday, The Walt Disney Company's (DIS) ABC filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), accusing the agency's recent investigation into the company of being a 'retaliatory campaign'.
The lawsuit alleges that the FCC's probe into the company's diversity and inclusion efforts and the accelerated renewal process for a set of its broadcast station licenses are intended to punish ABC for 'content and viewpoints the Administration dislikes'.
'Acting through the Federal Communications Commission, the Administration has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts,' ABC wrote in its complaint.
'That campaign began in this Administration's earliest days and has only intensified since. Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC's speech - the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air. Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech.'
Filed in a federal court in Washington, D.C., the lawsuit seeks to block FCC's early license renewal request. Notably, ABC's licenses were originally scheduled for renewal between 2028 and 2031.
Assuring that the agency is working in the public interest, an FCC spokesperson said, 'That campaign began in this Administration's earliest days and has only intensified since. Again and again, the Administration has attacked ABC's speech - the stories its journalists report and the viewpoints its network programs air. Over time, those attacks have escalated into express demands that ABC be stripped of its broadcast licenses because of its speech,' CNBC notes.
On the NYSE, Disney's shares were trading at $104.85, up 1.30 percent.
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