FCC orders early license renewal for eight ABC stations

FCC orders early license renewal for eight ABC stations

From Trump's Terms by NPR

April 29, 2026 · 5 min

About this episode

The FCC has ordered ABC to seek early broadcast license renewals following criticism from Melania Trump regarding a joke made by Jimmy Kimmel.

The Federal Communications Commission has ordered The Walt Disney Company's ABC to seek early broadcast license renewals for the eight TV stations it owns. The move follows criticism from first lady Melania Trump who objected to a joke about her made by late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel. President Trump followed up with a social media post calling for Kimmel to be fired, as NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports . Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump's Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Host: Mandalit del Barco

Topics covered

  • broadcast license
  • FCC
  • media criticism
  • politics
  • Trump administration
  • comedy

Keywords

  • FCC
  • ABC
  • broadcast license
  • Melania Trump
  • Jimmy Kimmel
  • Trump
  • media

Sponsors

NPR+

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Walt Disney Company, FCC, NPR, ABC

More episodes of Trump's Terms

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Trump's Terms podcast page.