FCC seeking public comment amid battle with 'The View'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

May 22, 2026, 4:45 p.m. ET


The Federal Communications Commission is accepting public input on whether ABC’s “The View” should be exempt from a requirement to offer equal broadcast opportunities to political candidates, according to a May 22 public notice.

It follows ABC and KTRK-TV, its Houston affiliate station, requesting that the FCC “expeditiously affirm that ‘The View’ continues to qualify for the bona fide news interview exemption” in a May 7 petition to the FCC.

The Communications Act of 1934 established the equal opportunity rule for both radio and later television. It was amended in 1959 to exempt newscasts, news interviews, news documentaries and on-the-spot coverage of news events from that requirement.

The FCC said in January that daytime and late-night television talk shows do not have a blanket exemption. Its public notice said the commission had once determined that the interview segment of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” qualified for the news interview exemption but asserted that singular decision has been interpreted and applied too broadly in the years since.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/05/22/fcc-seeking-public-comment-amid-battle-with-the-view/90222062007/

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REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143668795

[cstanleytech]

1. Unfortunately I have to say no as it opens up a door best left closed.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. You want to require them to give equal time to MAGA?

[cstanleytech]

5. No, I would rather not open the door to the various nationwide local news stations ask for exceptions.

Potentially causing hundreds of stations becoming mini Fox News Republican PR arms.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. The View should be exempt as should all interview shows.

[OC375]

4. Infotainment sucks. Make the outlets choose.

News or gum-flapping. Pick one. Do it well. Move on…

[JohnnyRingo]

6. Maybe next they'll go after "The Five" with Greg Gutfield.

It's the exact same format, albeit on cable, but as an opposite view.
Four Trumpers and one liberal.

[onenote]

7. No, because the equal opportunities rule only applies to broadcast

It would take an act of Congress to extend it to cable programming and, in any event, it would be struck down as unconstitutional. In fact, there is a reasonably strong possibility that if a challenge to the existing broadcast rule was brought, the current SCOTUS would strike it down.