FCC Investigating ‘The View’ for Violating Equal Time Rules for Political Candidates

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating ABC’s The View regarding the FCC’s recently issued guidance for broadcast stations to comply with equal time for political candidates, according to a recent report.

“A source” reportedly told Fox News that the FCC’s investigation comes after Texas State Rep. and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (D) appeared on The View.

Talarico reportedly “received roughly nine minutes of airtime in one segment,” while his opponent in the 2026 Texas Democratic primary, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) “had roughly 17 minutes of airtime across three segments during her appearance” on the show, according to the outlet.

Per the outlet, there was a “longstanding ‘bona fide’ exception for new programming that wouldn’t require equal time for an opposing candidate,” however, the FCC argued that

There has been a longstanding “bona fide” exception for news programming that wouldn’t require equal time for an opposing candidate, but the FCC now says 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.”

ABC’s parent company, Disney, never made an equal-time filing to the FCC regarding Talarico’s recent appearance, which would implicitly indicate to the FCC that Disney believes “The View” is bona fide news and would be exempt from the policy, the source said.

The equal opportunity requirement applies to all legally file candidates on a ballot regardless of political party, meaning all eligible Democrat primary candidates would require equal time. Notably, Talarico received roughly nine minutes of airtime in one segment while his top primary rival, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, had roughly 17 minutes of airtime across three segments during her appearance on “The View” last month.

Crockett’s appearance came before the FCC announced its policy enforcement.

Breitbart News’s Sean Moran reported in January that the FCC “issued guidance to ensure that programming on broadcast television must comply with political equal opportunities requirements.”