The Federal Communications Commission has opened a formal investigation into ABC’s daytime talk show The View, examining whether the program violated federal equal-time requirements after featuring a Democratic Senate candidate.
The probe comes as the FCC ramps up enforcement of long-standing broadcast rules requiring equal opportunities for legally qualified political candidates. Last month, the agency announced it would require broadcast networks to comply with the “statutory equal opportunities requirement,” citing the Communications Act of 1934, “including their airing of late-night and daytime talk shows.”
According to a source at the FCC, the investigation was triggered by Monday’s appearance of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on The View. Talarico was among the first political candidates to appear on a daytime talk show following the FCC’s announcement that it would more aggressively enforce the equal-time rule.
For decades, broadcasters have relied on a “bona fide” news exemption, which allows news programs to feature candidates without providing equal airtime to opponents. However, the FCC recently said it “has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on the air presently would qualify for the ‘bona fide’ news exemption.”
The source said Disney, ABC’s parent company, did not submit an equal-time filing to the FCC after Talarico’s appearance. Such a filing would implicitly signal that ABC considers The View to be bona fide news programming and therefore exempt from equal-time requirements. Without that documentation, the FCC is now reviewing whether the segment should have triggered obligations to offer comparable airtime to other candidates.
Under federal law, the equal opportunity requirement applies to all legally qualified candidates on the ballot, regardless of party affiliation. That means equal time would not only apply to Republican candidates such as incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and his primary challengers, but also to other Democratic candidates in the race.
A source who spoke with Fox News pointed to recent disparities in airtime on The View as part of the agency’s review. Talarico reportedly received roughly nine minutes of airtime during a single segment. By comparison, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) appeared on the program last month and received approximately 17 minutes of airtime across three segments. Crockett’s appearance occurred before the FCC publicly announced its renewed enforcement policy.
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The equal-time rule would also apply to Ahmad Hassan, a lesser-known candidate running against both Talarico and Crockett in the Democratic primary.
“Fake news is not getting a free pass anymore,” the FCC source told the outlet.
Recent guidance from the commission has clarified that daytime and late-night talk shows are not automatically shielded from equal-time obligations simply because they discuss politics or current events. If the FCC determines that ABC improperly treated Talarico’s appearance as exempt, the network could be required to provide equivalent airtime to his opponents.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr questioned whether The View should still be considered a legitimate news program during an interview on conservative commentator Scott Jennings’s podcast in September.
“I would assume you could make the argument that ‘The View’ is a bona fide news show, but I’m not so sure about that,” Carr said.
“And I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether ‘The View’ and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place,” he added.
