ABC Has NO FCC License! [View all]

Last edited Fri Sep 19, 2025, 11:17 PM - Edit history (2)

How many more posts do I have to make about this to make this clear?Stations are FCC- licensed. Broadcasting networks are not. This is important when it comes to broadcasting law. It is important to understand the legal distinction. This distinction is going to be important if Kimmel decides to sue the FCC.


Now, ABC itself does not hold a broadcast license. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issues broadcast licenses only to local television and radio stations, not to national networks.

Here’s how it works:

ABC is a national television network (owned by The Walt Disney Company).

Local ABC-affiliated stations (like WABC in New York, KABC in Los Angeles, WLS in Chicago, etc.) hold individual FCC broadcast licenses.

Those stations agree to carry ABC’s programming under affiliation agreements.


So, while ABC the network has no FCC license, its affiliated local stations do, and that is how ABC programming reaches the public over the air.