Disney is preparing for President Donald Trump Retalie against the company for putting talk show host Jimmy Kimmel back on Tuesday night (23).
The company already expected the Trump government to attack its open TV licenses even before ABC’s nightly host to make its controversial comments on September 15 about activist Charlie Kirk’s killer, two people said with the company’s thought.
Under the Trump government, large media companies faced unprecedented challenges. The president himself sued several companies for alleged bias, in some cases obtaining agreements that annoyed advocates of freedom of expression, and members of his administration used their authority to influence coverage.
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Trump and the president of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Brendan Carr, threatened to revoke the transmission licenses of local Disney stations, as well as stations belonging to affiliated owners. The company, controller of the ABC network, seeks regulatory approval of other federal agencies for two businesses: the acquisition of NFL media assets and the merger of Fubotv with its service Hulu Live TV.
Disney’s leadership has consulted legal experts and is confident that it will win any dispute over transmission licenses, according to sources, who have asked for anonymity to discuss the strategy. The FCC has already tried to control critical discourses in the past, with little success.
However, the destination of current and future transactions involving the company is less clear: the government has broad powers to interfere with business areas where constitutional issues are less defined.
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The FCC has lost its own informal 180 -day deadline to decide on the merger of Paramount Global with Skydance Media, while Trump’s lawyers were dealing with an agreement for a lawsuit he moved against CBS News, Paramount’s division. In this case, Trump accused CBS of editing an interview to favor his opponent in the 2024 elections, Kamala Harris.
The commission approved the merger after the agreement, along with CBS announcements that it would close Stephen Colbert’s night program at the end of the season and would install an ombudsman to monitor CBS News content.
In the first Trump administration, the Justice Department sued to block Time Warner’s sale to AT&T. Although companies have won, the purchase took almost two years to complete.
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Last year, Disney paid $ 16 million, including $ 1 million in attorney’s fees, to end a lawsuit filed by the president for alleged defamatory comments made by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos.
Disney executives knew that bringing Kimmel back to irritate the president, who has been the frequent target of the comedian. But they felt that they needed to defend the rights to freedom of expression.
The company suspended the program Jimmy Kimmel Live! On September 17, after an online negative reaction to the presenter’s comments about the murder of Republican activist Kirk.
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The reaction included Carr threats, which said Disney and its affiliates could lose its broadcast licenses. He encouraged independent owners of ABC stations to remove the program to avoid this.
“It’s been time for many of these graduates to position themselves against Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Let’s interrupt. Let’s no longer show Kimmel until you solve it,” Carr said in a podcast.
Two large stations owners acted. Nexstar Media Group Inc. and Sinclair Inc., owners of ABC stations that cover 23% of the USA, have removed Jimmy Kimmel Live! of their schedules and have not yet returned it.
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Trying to revoke the license of a station owner would be a long and difficult process, first in the FCC and probably later in court, as the agency’s actions can be legally contested.
“From our Constitution and the Communications Law, you cannot lose your FCC license for conveying something the president does not like,” said Preston Padden, former president of ABC Television.
Disney wanted the break from being temporary from the beginning, saying the program was suspended indefinitely, not canceled. The company then called Kimmel’s comments “Out of Time and Insensitive.” Kimmel, who has been with Disney for over 20 years, said she disagreed with the decision and didn’t like to be withdrawn. He satirizes Trump for years without any interference from the company.
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CEO Bob Iger and co-president of entertainment Dana Walden met personally with Kimmel a day after the suspension to mediate differences. They met again over the weekend, paving the way for Kimmel’s return.
In a post on social networks on Tuesday, Trump suggested the possibility of legal action against Disney and stated that Kimmel’s criticism could be seen as paid political discourse that Disney was donating to Democrats.
“He is another arm of DNC and, as far as I know, that would be a great illegal contribution to the campaign,” wrote the president. “I think let’s test ABC. Let’s see how it goes. The last time I went after them, they gave me $ 16 million. This one seems even more profitable.”
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