The FCC's order forcing early license renewal on ABC's eight stations was retaliation for ABC's editorial content, not a public-interest action.
Supports
“The lawsuit makes clear that this campaign has already chilled ABC's speech. The First Amendment prohibits the government from using regulatory threats to chill speech that the government doesn't like, which is exactly what the FCC is doing here.”
Reason.com Disney sues the FCC, saying the commission called in eight ABC broadcast licenses years early to punish the network for what it airs ›
Others on this question
FCC chairman Brendan Carr has said that the renewal requests were focused on "public interest", not retaliation.