Entertainment
National Association of Broadcasters Lambasts FCC’s Move Against ABC
The National Association of Broadcasters slammed the FCC’s move to target ABC for an early license renewal in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel and Donald Trump’s latest controversy.
The NAB – an advocacy association for America’s broadcasters that lobbies the government on behalf of TV station owners – released a statement on Wednesday calling for a united front as the FCC pressures Disney’s broadcast license.
“The FCC’s broadcast license renewal process must be grounded in predictability, fairness and transparency, principles reflected in the license terms Congress established and later extended,” NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “The Media Bureau’s nearly unprecedented request for one company to quickly reapply for all of its licenses – rather than utilize its traditional enforcement process – runs contrary to these principles and creates significant uncertainty for all broadcasters.”
He continued: “Broadcast stations already face intense challenges as they work to deliver trusted journalism, lifesaving emergency services, community programming and election coverage. The FCC must be careful to avoid actions that create further instability for the local stations viewers and listeners depend on.”
On Tuesday, the FCC asked Disney’s eight local ABC broadcast stations to apply for an early renewal for broadcast licenses, a rare move but one that lines up with right-wing outrage after Kimmel made a joke at a mock WHCD last Thursday where he claimed Melania had the “glow of an expectant widow.” Anger surged following the attack at the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.
“The FCC determines that calling in Disney’s ABC licenses for early renewal, at this time, under the Communications Act’s public interest standard is essential within the meaning of agency regulations,” David J. Brown, the chief of the FCC’s video division, wrote to Disney, ABC and the stations in a letter on Tuesday. “Therefore, Disney’s ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days–in other words, by May 28, 2026.”
In an X post, Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, called the move “unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere.”
“This political stunt won’t stick,” she wrote. “Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.”
Kimmel’s joke is not the direct reason for the early renewal, but it came after both President Trump and Melania Trump called for ABC to have the late night host fired. 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 to come…
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Curry Barker fever will continue into next summer as Focus Features and Blumhouse Atomic Monster are releasing the Obsession filmmaker’s next movie, Anything But Ghosts on May 7, 2027.
That’s similar to the early May launch date of Obsession which bowed during the third weekend of May this year (May 15) and opened to $17.1M domestic, but held like a rock, spiking an unprecedented +39% in its second weekend ($23.9M) and another +14% in its third weekend with $27.3M for a $263.4M final domestic, near $520M worldwide tally.
As we first told you, Focus has worldwide rights on Anything But Ghosts with Universal Pictures International handling international distribution for the studio. Barker co-wrote the movie with his
longtime creative collaborator and Obsession star Cooper Tomlinson. Anything But Ghosts stars Tomlinson and Barker as wannabe “ghosthunters” who find themselves in over their heads as things spiral wildly and terrifyingly out of control. Violet McGraw and Chris Reinacher also star with Bryce Dallas Howard and Aaron Paul. Barker in interviews has said that the feature takes place in the same universe as Obsession.
Already on opening on May 7, 2027 next year is Lionsgate’s Mel Gibson directed The Resurrection of the Christ (Part One) (technically that’s going on May 6) as well as 20th Century Studios’ Patrick Schwarzenegger and Phoebe Dynevor movie Beach Read. Sony kicks off summer 2027 on April 30 with the feature take of Nintendo video game The Legend of Zelda.
The other production companies on Anything But Ghosts are Spooky Pictures, Divide/Conquer, in association with Image Nation and Barker and Tomlinson’s That’s a Bad Idea. EPs are Daniel Bekerman, Curry Barker, Cooper Tomlinson and Ben Ross. Producers are Roy Lee, Steven Schneider, Jason Blum, Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath.
Focus Features acquired the CAA Media financed handled Obsession out of TIFF Midnight Madness 2025 for $15M. The movie went onto become Focus Features highest grossing movie ever in addition to be the highest grossing movie ever acquired out of a film festival (unseating Blair Witch Project‘s $248.6M WW gross). Barker’s debut feature, Milk & Serial, first streamed on YouTube to close to 3M views off a production budget of $800. Obsession was made for $750K by Capstone Studios before Focus picked up the title.
Barker mentioned to Deadline at our DGA TIFF panel that on Anything But Ghosts, “The hardest day on Obsession was the easiest day on Anything But Ghosts.”
He added, “We had a 130-page script and we had 26 days to shoot it. I’m also starring in it and directing and I’m the lead character. I have more lines than anyone in the movie.”
“Zach Kregger just told me, ‘You have to cut 30 pages’ and I probably should have listened to him. So, did my manager; he told me that, too.”
“But I didn’t cut a single page because I wanted to shoot all of it,” says Barker who was at TIFF for the one-year anniversary of the Obsession premiere, “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and we were compromising shots left and right off the shot list. Gone. Just like coverage was going out the windows. It was crazy.”
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Curry Barker’s ‘Anything But Ghosts’ Locks May 2027 Release by Focus
Curry Barker’s ‘Anything But Ghosts’ Release Date Set
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