FCC: TV Talk Shows Aren't Exempt From Equal-Time Rule Obligations
Late-night and daytime TV talk shows aren't automatically exempt from the obligation to provide political candidates equal opportunities for air time, according to new guidance issued Wednesday by the FCC Media Bureau. It said partisan-motivated programming wouldn't qualify for the exemption under long-standing precedent. The equal opportunity rule requires that political candidates be given equal time on non-news broadcast programming.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said last fall that the agency would look into whether some talk shows, such as The View, qualify for the news exemption to the equal opportunity rule (see 2509240064).
The bureau said Wednesday that it hasn't seen any evidence that the interview portions of late-night or daytime talk shows presently on air would qualify for the bona fide news exemption. The rule is aimed at keeping broadcasters "from unfairly putting their thumbs on the scale for one political candidate or set of candidates over another." While it doesn't apply to cable or other distribution forms, broadcast TV stations "have an obligation to operate in the public interest -- not in any narrow partisan, political interest," the FCC said.
TV networks assumed for years that their late-night and daytime talk shows qualified as news programs "even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes," Carr wrote Wednesday on social media. With the new guidance, "the FCC reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities."
The FCC guidance "should stop one-sided left-wing entertainment shows masquerading as 'bona fide news,'" Center for American Rights President Daniel Suhr wrote. "The abuse of the airwaves by ABC & NBC as DNC-TV must end," he said, referring to the Democratic National Committee. CAR filed an equal-time complaint in 2024 against NBC over Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ weekend appearance on Saturday Night Live (see 2411050049).
BakerHostetler broadcast lawyer Dan Kirkpatrick told us that it's hard to gauge yet whether the guidance will mean broadcasters change practices. It's not an official policy change, as the agency has always taken a case-by-case approach, but there had been more confidence in the past that a broadcaster with an entertainment show that includes an interview portion would be exempt and would just air the segment, Kirkpatrick said. Broadcasters might be more hesitant now to do that and might instead seek a bona fide news exemption declaratory ruling ahead of airing a segment, he added.
Kirkpatrick also said it's possible the guidance could have a chilling effect, as the declaratory ruling process could delay an interview to the point that it doesn't happen. He noted that there's no set timeline on how fast the agency has to act on declaratory ruling petitions.
Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez called the guidance "misleading" and said it "does not change the law, but it does represent an escalation in this FCC’s ongoing campaign to censor and control speech." The agency "has not adopted any new regulation, interpretation, or Commission-level policy altering the long-standing news exemption or equal time framework. Broadcasters should not feel pressured to water down, sanitize, or avoid critical coverage out of fear of regulatory retaliation. Broadcast stations have a constitutional right to carry newsworthy content, even when that content is critical of those in power."