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FCC Readying Early Review of Disney Broadcast Licenses Amid Kimmel Kerfuffle

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The Federal Communications Commission is preparing an early review of Disney’s broadcast licenses for its local stations, according to Semafor, increasing government pressure as President Donald Trump calls for the company to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

CNN’s Brian Stelter later reported that the FCC “is planning to file paperwork as early as this afternoon that will challenge Disney’s eight licenses for its eight ABC stations.”

The FCC and Disney did not respond to immediate requests for comment.

A source told Semafor the potential review is not tied to Kimmel, who irked Trump and first lady Melania Trump over a joke comparing the first lady to “an expectant widow” days before an alleged gunman tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and target the president and his officials. The two called for Disney to fire him.

Kimmel on Monday refused to apologize for the joke, telling his  audience that it was a “very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that.”

Trump has frequently called for the FCC to pull the broadcast licenses of networks over news coverage he doesn’t like, and Carr threatened Disney’s licenses earlier this month over the company’s diversity initiatives.

“If the evidence does in fact play out and shows that they were engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination, that’s a very serious issue at the FCC, that could fundamentally go to their character qualifications to even hold a license,” Carr told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich on “The Story” earlier this month. “But we’re going to follow the facts wherever they go.”

Disney briefly suspended Kimmel last year after Carr warned broadcasters following the host’s comments about Charlie Kirk; Carr has said he did not threaten them. More recently, Carr confirmed an FCC broke into ABC’s “The View.”

The FCC licenses public airwaves to ABC local stations, and the next series of renewals is not expected until 2028, according to the agency’s website. Carr told Reuters last month he was open to early reviews — and revocations after investigations — if it meant helping “broadcasters reorient their operations to the public ​interest.” 

“The licenses could come up earlier than 2028,” he said. “Maybe we would, maybe we wouldn’t. They could.”

The agency has not revoked a U.S. broadcast license in more than 40 years.

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VMAs Behind the Scenes: Taylor Swift, Dakota Johnson and ‘Off Campus’ Love

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VMAs Behind the Scenes: Taylor Swift, Dakota Johnson and ‘Off Campus’ Love







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Lindsay Lohan, Henry Golding to Star in Netflix Movie Return to You

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For her next lead role, Lindsay Lohan is embracing nostalgia with a very important DVD.

Lohan and Henry Golding are set to star in the Netflix romantic feature Return to You. Lohan also serves as a producer for the film that Mark Waters will direct from a script by Eric Champnella.

Set in 2008, Return to You stars Lohan as a high-powered but lonely attorney who mistakenly receives a heartfelt DVD from a dying woman to her husband. Lohan’s character uses clues from the recording to attempt to track down the husband.

Lohan and Brad Krevoy serve as producers for the movie that counts Olivia Krevoy, Jimmy Townsend and Galen Fletcher as executive producers.

For Lohan, Return to You marks a reunion with Waters, her director on two hit films — 2003’s Freaky Friday and 2004’s Mean Girls — that helped propel her to Hollywood stardom. Lohan reprised her role as Freaky Friday’s Anna Coleman in 2025 sequel Freakier Friday opposite co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, but that feature had Nisha Ganatra in the director’s chair.

Waters’ recent projects include last year’s Netflix romantic comedy La Dolce Villa and the forthcoming biopic Hershey.

Lohan can soon be seen starring on the Hulu series Count My Lies, alongside Shailene Woodley and Kit Harington. Golding is set to star with Brie Larson and Lily Collins in the Amazon MGM Studios comedy Close Personal Friends.

During a recent cover story for Vogue Arabia, Lohan discussed having become more vocal throughout her career. “With age comes a different kind of confidence,” she said. “When I was younger, I wasn’t so comfortable saying how I felt about a character and being involved with the process of it. And I love that part now.”

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Dan Trachtenberg Developing New ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Pic (Exclusive)

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EXCLUSIVE: After breathing new life into the Predator franchise at 20th Century, Dan Trachtenberg and Disney have found their next property to give a fresh spin on. Sources tell Deadline the Prey director is coming on to direct an original idea inspired by the classic Disney tale Sleeping Beauty. The untitled project is in early development and is inspired by the classic fairy tale, taking the story in an entirely new direction with Trachtenberg’s distinct sensibility.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, Insiders add that this take has no connection to the Maleficent films starring Angelina Jolie. Trachtenberg and Raya McClendon came up with the story with Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf penning the script.

Trachtenberg and his long time producing partner Ben Rosenblatt will produce as will Star Wars producer Michelle Rejwan. EVP of production Jessica Virtue is overseeing the project with Creative Executive Alina Mota, reporting to Disney Live Action President Daria Cercek.

Trachtenberg and Disney have strong ties after he successfully helped relaunch the Predator franchise with his hit Prey, that was not only a massive success on Hulu but also heard strong critical prase as well landing an Emmy nomination for best TV movie. He followed that up with the Predator: Badlands as well as the animated Predator pic Predator: Killer of Killers for Hulu, which also has a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes; all three of Dan’s entries hold the record for highest rated on Rotten Tomatoes in the Predator franchise.

He is currently in pre-production on a top secret pic at Paramount.

Anfanger and Schimp are the co-creators of the Comedy Central series Big Time In Hollywood, FL.

Trachtenberg is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Johnson Shapiro Slewett and Kole, Anfanger and Schimp are repped by Mosaic, CAA, and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.

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