Donald Trump · FCC · US Congress · Ars Technica
“While few licenses were ever challenged in so-called comparative renewals, and fewer still pushed back
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The comparative renewal process was eliminated by Congress “with a sweep of its legislative hand,” as Sterling noted.
Key facts
- Carr threatened ABC station licenses in September 2025 over comments made by Kimmel, and Trump sued ABC in 2024 over statements made by George Stephanopoulos
- Denying license renewals was difficult even under the pre-1996 process, according to a 2006 article in the Federal Communications Law Journal by George Washington University’s Christopher Sterling
- The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a major update to the Communications Act, the 1934 law that established the FCC and provides the agency with its legal authority
- And Congress specifically amended the Communications Act in 1996 to limit the government’s power to deny license renewals
Summary
Disney will have the law on its side in its fight against the unusual broadcast license review ordered yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission, legal experts say. In 1996, Congress made it a lot harder for the FCC to take away a broadcast license, even when it’s up for renewal. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a major update to the Communications Act, the 1934 law that established the FCC and provides the agency with its legal authority. “Although the FCC generally acts under the ‘public interest’ standard when granting and regulating licenses, the Act imposes more limits on FCC actions that would cancel licenses or deny their renewal or transfer,” Northwestern University law professor James Speta wrote last year in the Yale Journal on Regulation.