Public Comment by June 29: Tell the FCC to keep KGO-TV on the air.
Submit a Public Comment Directly at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express?proceeding%5Bname%5D=26-131
NOTE: Your name and address will become part of public record.
Please comment on this license challenge at the FCC site. Comments must be submitted by June 29. Note: Your name and address will be entered into a public record.
Use your own words. Important points will include challenging the action on First Amendment grounds and rejecting FCC’s attempts to misuse broadcast licensing authority to suppress dissent.
Background
ABC shows Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The View have been speaking out about the Trump administration’s fascism. Even before that, Trump’s FCC investigated ABC’s diversity and inclusion policies. We believe that the Trump administration is using procedural tools to chill the First Amendment rights of these shows’ hosts by taking away their broadcast platform.
Currently, the FCC has issued a public notice forcing ABC to reapply for renewal of the licenses to broadcast. These licenses were up for renewal by 2028; the early renewal demand is the FCC’s latest attempt to punish people who speak out against the regime by hampering their ability to broadcast.
One of the stations affected is San Francisco’s KGO-TV. ABC and KGO are both owned by The Walt Disney Company. KGO-TV is asking for the public’s support.
Concerning this investigation, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez (the only remaining Democratic commissioner on the FCC) wrote to Disney president, “What Disney and ABC are facing is not a series of coincidental regulatory actions but a sustained, coordinated campaign of censorship and control, carried out through the weaponization of the FCC’s authority as a federal regulator and aimed at pressuring a free and independent press and all media into submission.” Her letter recounts the history of Trump’s war on ABC, including the defamation lawsuit that ABC settled in the vain hope of appeasement.
This is our moment to defend the First Amendment. Please comment on this license challenge and defend free speech on American airwaves. Your comment must be submitted by June 29. Note that your name and address will be entered into a public record.
Resources
Link to public notice: https://www.fcc.gov/document/applications-disneys-abc-pleading-cycle-ex-parte-procedures and attached pdf
FCC’s order calling in ABC’s licenses for renewal: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-416A1.pdf
FCC public notice opening this comment period: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-541A1.pdf
Letter from Commissioner Anna Gomez to Walt Disney Company CEO: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-421580A1.pdf
SFGate Argument: https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/abc-kgo-tv-license-22315997.php