The Federal Communications Commission is launching an investigation into ABC’s The View over a rarely enforced statute.
The probe relies on the seldom-enforced equal time rule, which mandates that broadcasters offer “equal opportunities” for political candidates running for the same office. The probe was triggered by Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico’s appearance on the show, according to Fox News.
In January, the FCC said it would give guidance to ABC, CBS, and NBC on how to adhere to the equal time rule.
The new guidance said the FCC would require broadcasters to adhere to the “statutory equal opportunities requirement,” which includes “their airing of late-night and daytime talk shows.”
Before the guidance, late-night and daytime talk shows were considered “bona fide news,” making them exempt from the equal time rule.
Disney, ABC’s parent company, did not make an equal-time filing to the FCC regarding Talarico’s appearance, which indicated to the FCC that Disney and ABC see the “The View” as still bona fide news, according to the Fox report.
The Daily Beast reached out to the FCC and ABC for comment.
Talarico was one of the first political candidates to appear on the program since the FCC sent its new guidance to the networks.
A recent poll from Slingshot Strategies commissioned by Texas Public Opinion Research shows that Talarico is just one point behind Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the state’s Democratic primary. GOP Sen. John Cornyn is facing two primary challengers: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.
The View, currently hosted by Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sarah Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Ana Navarro, has long been a target of conservatives.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has frequently targeted ABC for its programming, most notably going after Jimmy Kimmel for a monologue aired on his ABC program after the killing of right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk in September.
In a podcast appearance, Carr encouraged broadcasters to preempt Kimmel’s program on ABC-affiliated stations as he threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcasting rights
Two major broadcasters, Nexstar and Sinclair, which had mergers pending before the FCC, suspended Kimmel’s show for nearly two weeks.
That same month, Carr said it was worthwhile to “look into” The View, but said the daytime program was not yet a target of the FCC at that time.
Carr’s probe comes at the Republican Party faces a likely devastating midterm election season, slated to lose control of the House, and potentially the Senate, in the 2026 elections.
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