ABC is proposing a hearing as soon as Friday on its request for a temporary restraining order in its First Amendment lawsuit against the FCC, while the agency signaled that it plans to challenge the litigation as premature.

The plans were laid out on Thursday on in a joint status report from the parties, as requested by the federal judge in the case, Loren L. AliKhan.

The network sued the FCC on Tuesday, claiming that the agency’s order for an early renewal of its eight station broadcast licenses was highly unusual and part of a pattern of using regulatory threat to retaliate on content and news coverage the Trump administration disfavors. In the immediate term, they are asking for a temporary restraining order to halt the renewal proceedings, characterizing them as a threat that chills the network’s free speech rights.

In the filing, ABC’s legal team proposed a hearing for Friday or next week, on Aug. 24 and 25, and the FCC said that its lawyers would be available on those dates.

In the meantime, the FCC’s lawyers, calling ABC’s schedule “highly expedited,” proposed a briefing schedule for next month, and also wrote that they planned to file a motion to dismiss. They argued that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, not the district court, had jurisdiction, and that the network had to allow the regulatory process to play out.

The agency’s legal team claimed that the network was trying to “circumvent an administrative proceeding followed by judicial review in a court of appeals.”

They wrote, “Although framed as a First Amendment retaliation claim, Plaintiffs’ chief concern appears to be the Commission’s exercise of its statutory authority to ensure that broadcast licensees operate in the public interest, and its conduct of an administrative process that could include (but has not yet been determined to require) a hearing on Plaintiffs’ license qualifications and, depending on the results of any such hearing, hypothetical future license revocations.”

In its lawsuit, ABC’s legal team indicated that they were taking action in anticipation of the FCC designating the license renewals for an administrative hearing, a potentially lengthy process that only added to the uncertainty of whether the stations’ licenses would be revoked.

In the latest filing, its legal team wrote that they have “raised a textbook First Amendment retaliation claim. Courts in this District have already recognized that such claims belong in federal court, not before the very agency accused of engaging in First Amendment retaliation.”

The network’s legal team argued that they have already “documented the irreparable harm [ABC is] suffering, and Defendants’ proposed solution would further exacerbate those harms.”

The network also referred to the potential of the FCC designating the license renewal for a hearing as “sanctions.” The FCC said that it would give the court 48 hours notice before doing so.

“Defendants effectively seek permission to impose draconian sanctions with only 48 hours’ notice, while continuing to hang the threat of those sanctions over Plaintiffs’ heads and remaining free to engage in other forms of retaliation,” the network’s lawyers wrote in the filing.

The FCC said that a hearing designation order would not be a “sanction,” but “would simply set in place a further administrative process in which Plaintiffs would have the opportunity to make their case.”

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s Margie Claus starring Melissa McCarthy will fly into theaters on Nov. 12, 2027. The pic has also set its additional voiceover cast with Jim Gaffigan as Santa, Andrew Scott as Jack Frost along with Annie Mumolo, Georgette Falcone, Octavia Spencer, Gary Farmer, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Cedric Yarbrough, and Maria Bakalova. Cole Escola was previously announced.

Directed by Kirk DeMicco from a screenplay by Ben Falcone and Damon Jones, Margie Claus will also have original songs written and produced by Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum selling artist Meghan Trainor along with Falcone and Jones.

In the pic, Santa Claus goes missing on Christmas Eve. His sweet wife Margie does what any devoted spouse would do: she grabs a century old sleigh out of mothballs, puts together a wildly unqualified rescue team and ventures to the South Pole where good cheer can get you killed – on an action-packed comedic rescue mission to save her husband and Christmas.

“I love Christmas so much, and so does Margie Claus,” said McCarthy. “Our story is about showing up for the people you love the most at the holidays, and it’s a reminder that you don’t have to be perfect to be lovable. It’s been so special to make this movie with Ben, Kirk, Michelle, Damon and are you kidding me? We got Meghan Trainor, Chef’s kiss! Ben and I can’t wait to get on our sleigh next November and throw Christmas cookie and ugly sweater parties at theaters across the globe. We’ve always wanted to tour the amazing movie theaters all over the world, and this is the perfect way to do it. We can’t wait to see you there! Ho Ho Ho!!”

Margie Claus is produced by McCarthy and Falcone through their On the Day Productions banner alongside Oscar-winning producer Michelle L.M. Wong (KPop Demon Hunters). 

Margie Claus was previously dated for Nov. 5, 2027. The only other major studio title on Nov. 12 next year is Paramount’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow from Sian Heder and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s upcoming slate includes The Cat in the Hat (Nov. 6), Bad Fairies (May 21, 2027), Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (March 17, 2028), Dynamic Duo (June 30, 2028), Hello Kitty (July 21, 2028), and The Lunar Chronicles (Nov. 3, 2028).