FCC Equal-Time Rule The View
🔴 Abuse of Power ·
Jan 21–May 22, 2026
Summary
On January 21, 2026, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued new guidance (DA 26-68) reversing decades of precedent and stating that late-night and daytime talk shows should no longer assume they qualify for the ‘bona fide news’ exemption to the Section 315 equal-time rule. The rule, dating to the Communications Act of 1934, requires broadcasters to provide equal airtime to opposing political candidates outside of news programming. The exemption for talk shows had been the settled FCC position since at least a 1996 Media Bureau decision. Programs explicitly named or implicated in coverage included The View, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. After Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico appeared on The View on February 2, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told reporters on February 18 that the agency had ‘an enforcement action underway’ against the show. CBS preemptively pulled a scheduled Talarico interview with Colbert on February 16; Colbert told viewers that ‘intensifying pressure from the Trump administration against broadcast TV networks’ was behind the decision. Disney/ABC filed a petition on May 7 seeking explicit FCC recognition of The View as a ‘bona fide news interview program’; the FCC opened public comment May 22. The rule applies only to over-the-air broadcasters, not cable (Fox News, MSNBC, CNN) or satellite, meaning shows like Greg Gutfeld’s on Fox News fall entirely outside its scope. Although Carr stated the FCC would apply the rule ‘in a fair and even handed manner’ across broadcast TV and radio, Carr publicly indicated talk radio (dominated by conservative hosts including Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Glenn Beck) was ‘not his target,’ according to American Enterprise Institute analyst Clay Calvert. As of May 2026, the only confirmed FCC enforcement action was against The View.
Key Figures
Donald Trump, Brendan Carr, Jimmy Kimmel
Institutions Involved
Sources
- FCC’s Media Bureau Provides Guidance on Political Equal Opportunities Requirement for Broadcast Television Stations
- Late-night and daytime talk shows must offer equal time for candidate interviews - FCC says
- FCC Targets ‘The View’ and Jimmy Kimmel With Eye Toward Getting Equal Time for Republicans
- FCC Chairman Confirms Enforcement Action Underway Against ABC’s ‘The View’ - Calls Stephen Colbert-James Talarico Incident A Hoax
- Don’t be fooled - The FCC’s ‘equal-time’ push is almost all bark - no bite
- Disney asks FCC to classify ‘The View’ as exempt from equal time rule