Watchdog asks court to force FCC vote on Fox license

The delay effectively traps the license challenge in administrative limbo, preventing the petitioners from attaining the 'final agency action' required to move the case into the federal court system. For the streaming and broadcast ecosystem, this highlight's the FCC's shift toward aggressive character qualification reviews under the current leadership, though critics argue the enforcement is being applied inconsistently based on political alignment. The resolution of this petition will set a procedural precedent for how long the commission can withhold a final order on controversial license renewals. Watch for the D.C. Circuit’s response to the writ, which could force the commission’s hand despite internal procedural stalls.

The license challenge against Fox Television stems from the $787.5 million settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems in April 2023, where a Delaware judge found that Fox had broadcast false statements regarding the 2020 election. Under the Communications Act, the FCC must determine if a licensee possess the ‘character’ to serve the public interest, a standard the Media and Democracy Project argues Fox violated. Although the FCC Media Bureau dismissed the initial petition in early 2025 citing First Amendment protections, the full commission has yet to finalize that decision through a formal vote.

While the Fox proceeding has languished, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has aggressively moved against other major broadcasters. Per Axios and Semafor in April 2026, the FCC ordered an unprecedented accelerated review of eight ABC local station licenses, investigating whether Disney-owned diversity initiatives violated anti-discrimination rules. Chairman Carr has also recently warned broadcasters to ‘correct course’ regarding what he termed ‘news distortions’ or face license revocation, according to CBS News reporting from March 2026. This regulatory environment is marked by a sharp divide; while Carr characterizes these moves as routine enforcement of public interest obligations, Commissioner Anna Gomez and First Amendment advocates have described the targeted reviews of ABC and NBC as a coordinated attempt to pressure media outlets whose coverage displeases the administration, as noted by NewscastStudio in May 2026.