Walt Disney Co. is preparing for President Donald Trump to retaliate against the company for putting late-night host Jimmy Kimmel back on the air Tuesday night.

The company had been anticipating the Trump administration might go after its broadcast TV licenses even before ABC’s late-show host made his controversial Sept. 15 remarks about the murderer of activist Charlie Kirk, two people familiar with the company’s thinking said.

Under the Trump administration, major media companies have faced unprecedented challenges. The president himself has sued several companies for alleged bias, in some cases winning settlements that angered free-speech advocates, and members of his administration have used their authority to influence coverage.

Trump and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr have threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of Disney’s local stations, along with those owned by affiliated station owners. The company, parent of the ABC broadcast network, is seeking regulatory approval from other federal agencies for two deals, one to acquire media assets from the National Football League and another to merge FuboTV Inc. with its Hulu live TV service.

Disney’s leadership has consulted legal experts and is confident it will win any case over broadcast licenses, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing its strategy. The FCC has attempted to control critical speech in the past with little success.

However, the fate of current and future transactions involving the company is less clear: The government has broad powers to meddle in areas of business where constitutional questions are less clear cut.

The FCC missed its own informal 180-day deadline to make a decision on Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media, as Trump’s lawyers were negotiating a settlement to a lawsuit he filed against CBS News, a division of Paramount. In that case, Trump accused CBS of editing an interview to favor his 2024 election opponent, Kamala Harris.

The commission approved the merger following the settlement, along with CBS announcements that it would end Stephen Colbert’s late-night program at the end of the season and install an ombudsman to monitor content at CBS News.

In the first Trump administration, the Justice Department sued to block the sale of Time Warner to AT&T Inc. Though the companies ultimately prevailed, it took almost two years to complete that purchase.

Last year, Disney paid $16 million, including $1 million in legal fees, to settle a lawsuit brought by the president over alleged defamatory comments made by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos.

Disney executives knew bringing Kimmel back would anger the president, who has been a frequent target of the comedian. But they felt they had to defend free-speech rights.

The company suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Sept. 17. The decision followed an online backlash to the host’s comments about the assassination of Republican activist Kirk.

The blowback included threatening remarks from Carr, who said Disney and its affiliates could lose their broadcast licenses. He encouraged independent owners of ABC stations to pull the program to avoid that.

“It’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘We are going to preempt. We are not gonna run Kimmel anymore until you straighten this out,’” Carr said on a podcast.

Two major station owners acted. Nexstar Media Group Inc. and Sinclair Inc., owners of ABC stations covering 23% of the U.S., dropped Jimmy Kimmel Live! from their schedules, and have yet to return it.

Attempting to revoke a station owner’s license would be a long and difficult process, first within the FCC and probably later in court since agency actions are open to legal challenge.

“Under our Constitution and the Communications Act, you cannot lose your FCC license for broadcasting something the president doesn’t like,” said Preston Padden, a former president of ABC Television.

Disney intended the hiatus to be temporary from the start, saying the show was suspended indefinitely, not canceled. The company later called Kimmel’s remarks “ill-timed and insensitive.” Kimmel, who has been with Disney for more than 20 years, said he disagreed with the decision and didn’t appreciate being taken off the air. He has mocked Trump for years without any interference from the company.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger and entertainment co-chair Dana Walden met with Kimmel in person a day after the suspension to mediate their differences. They met again over the weekend, paving the way for Kimmel’s return.

In his social media post on Tuesday, Trump floated the possibility of legal action against Disney and suggested Kimmel’s on-air criticism could be viewed as paid political speech that Disney is donating to Democrats.

“He is yet another arm of the DNC and, to the best of my knowledge, that would be a major Illegal Campaign Contribution,” the president wrote. “I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative.”

_____

With assistance from Kelcee Griffis.

_____

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.