To play devil's advocate, ABC doesn't have a right to execute a corporate merger and this is what was threatened by the FCC. I don't know what the courts would think of this kind of argument and unfortunately we will probably not find out.

Regardless of that, it certainly seems like some kind of corruption.

Any limitation on their right to merger should be spelled out in a law passed by congress and not from pressure from an executive appointee.

   "this is what was threatened by the FCC"

For clarity, as parent points out, specific comment from FCC exists. The general sense of threat Disney felt is not the same as a specific FCC comment