ABC reprimanded the Federal Communications Commission in a new court filing over the agency’s rule targeting The View over its one-sided interview with Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico without providing equal airtime to opposing candidates.
In January, the FCC published guidelines clarifying how the equal time rule is enforced. Bona fide news coverage has historically been exempted from the rule, but late-night and daytime talk shows are no longer exempt under the Trump administration. The FCC, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, claims the entertainment-oriented programming can be “motivated by partisan purposes.”
Contrary to the FCC’s view, ABC argues The View should retain its “valid” equal time exemption “granted to [the show] more than twenty years ago.”
The network is particularly concerned about the effect that the rule will have on the midterm elections.
“The Public Notice has created harmful ambiguity in an area where none previously existed and has a chilling effect on First Amendment-protected free speech on the eve of the 2026 elections,” lawyers for ABC wrote in a court document made public by the FCC on Friday.
The FCC ordered an ABC station in Houston to file formal paperwork for requesting a bona fide news coverage exemption. The network said it will comply with the order but did so begrudgingly, calling the move “unprecedented.”
“Some may dislike certain — or even most — of the viewpoints expressed on The View or similar shows,” the company said. “Such dislike, however, cannot justify using regulatory processes to restrict those views.”
Furthermore, ABC warned of a slippery slope that may emerge in the future when the FCC targets anti-Trump talk shows but not radio hosts who support the president.
“The danger is that the government will simply decide which perspectives to regulate and which to leave undisturbed,” the broadcaster said. “If the government is allowed to discriminate on the basis of viewpoint in a Republican administration, there is little preventing it from doing so when the Democrats are in charge.”
In February, The View interviewed Talarico ahead of his ultimate victory in Texas’s Democratic primary for the Senate. His appearance caught the FCC’s attention because no other primary candidates, either Democrat or Republican, in the race were booked on the daytime talk show.
Late-night show host Stephen Colbert was also targeted by the FCC for doing the same thing. Instead of airing on CBS, Colbert’s interview with Talarico was posted on YouTube due to the equal time rule.
ABC is also facing scrutiny from the FCC over its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
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The commission ordered the network to apply for early license renewal for its eight television stations by May 28, years ahead of the scheduled license expiration.
The action, also derided by critics as unprecedented, came shortly after the Trumps called for comedian Jimmy Kimmel to be taken off the air after he made an unsavory joke ahead of the third assassination attempt against the president last month. The timing suggests the FCC sought to punish ABC over Kimmel, but Carr insists that was not the case.