The latest threat to revoke the broadcasting licenses of companies whose programming doesn't align with the Trump administration's priorities has left Wall Street largely unfazed.

For one thing, any move to revoke the licenses would likely get tied up in litigation.

While that is "likely not a deterrent for the administration," Capital Alpha Partners managing director Robert Kaminski told Barron's, "the unprecedented nature of that type of action and the prospect of a long, drawn-out legal process may be why investors are less concerned about it in the short term."

Tensions between the networks and the administration came to a head Thursday night when President Donald Trump suggested that ABC and NBC should have their licenses pulled for not covering his prime-time speech.

"Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public airways for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting," he said during his televised address.

But Rosenblatt Securities media analyst Barton Crockett says that the media companies that own ABC and NBC -- Disney and Comcast -- wouldn't be greatly affected by such a move.

"For Disney and Comcast, the TV stations are so small in the mix that Wall Street's not inclined to worry very much about whatever their fates may be," he said.

While both Disney and Comcast shares have fallen sharply over the past year, by 20% and 26%, respectively, that has little to do with Trump's threats. Instead, both are under pressure from other parts of their businesses. Disney is facing lower overall entertainment and sports revenue, while Comcast has more competition from rival broadband providers.

As for its TV stations, Disney only owns eight local ABC channels. (The rest are owned by affiliates, including Nexstar and Sinclair.) While Disney doesn't break out exactly how much revenue they generate, it's a tiny portion of the entertainment giant's total $25 billion revenue in the last quarter, which encompasses its box office revenue, theme parks, cruises, and ESPN sports network.

The other issue is whether the administration could actually get the licenses pulled in the first place. Because stations are licensed individually, there is no mechanism to broadly revoke all of them at once. What's more, the process starts with an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission, which can take years.

It hasn't had much luck getting comedian Jimmy Kimmel off the air after comments he made last September regarding the killing of activist Charlie Kirk. The show was suspended for just a week, despite threats from FCC chair Brendan Carr to "do this the easy or the hard way," a turn of phrase reminiscent of a line from the 1990 mob film Goodfellas.

But the FCC hasn't given up. It started an early review of ABC's local station licenses back in April just days after Kimmel joked that first lady Melania Trump had "a glow like an expectant widow." Disney's stock was largely unchanged.

Disney's shares took a bigger hit last month after Carr accused ABC of running a "campaign of misinformation" on the agency's investigation into whether its show The View was required to give "equal time" to political opponents. Shares fell 3% after Carr's comments and have yet to recover those losses.

The agency had begun investigating The View after it aired an interview with James Talarico, a Texas Democrat running for U.S. Senate, back in February. (ABC has argued that a 2002 FCC ruling that The View is a "bona fide news program" means it isn't subject to the rule.)

Neither the White House nor the FCC responded to Barron's request for comment on whether the administration was looking to pull either network's licenses. Disney and Comcast didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shares of both closed down modestly Friday, by around 2% for Disney and 1% for Comcast.

Write to Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2026 17:33 ET (21:33 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.