Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/a>\u201d and CBS\u2019 \u201cThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert,\u201d have freely parried with high-profile politicians without worrying about being subjected to the so-called \u201cequal time\u201d rule, which requires broadcasters to bring on a politician\u2019s rival to provide balanced coverage and multiple viewpoints.<\/p>\nWith the new guidance, the FCC appears to take a dim view of whether late-night and daytime talk shows deserve an exemption from the \u201cequal time\u201d rules for stations that transmit programming over the public airwaves. The move comes amid FCC Chairman Brendan Carr\u2019s campaign to challenge broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC in an effort to shift more power to local broadcasters, including conservative-leaning television station groups such as Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group. <\/p>\n
Since becoming chairman of the FCC a year ago, the President Trump appointee has been critical of CBS, NBCUniversal and Walt Disney Co. He launched investigations into Disney and Comcast\u2019s diversity hiring practices and reopened a \u201cnews distortion\u201d probe into CBS\u2019 edits of a 2024 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris after Trump sued the network for more than $10 billion. <\/p>\n
Carr withheld approval of CBS parent Paramount\u2019s sale to billionaire scion David Ellison\u2019s Skydance until after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the suit, which several legal observers had deemed frivolous.<\/p>\n
During a social media storm over Kimmel\u2019s comments in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September, Carr suggested the FCC might use its regulatory hammer over ABC parent Walt Disney Co. if the Burbank giant failed to take action against Kimmel. \u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way,\u201d Carr said at the time. <\/p>\n
The FCC oversees television station broadcast licenses, and those stations have obligations to serve the public interest.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the FCC rolled out the new guidance aimed at late-night talk shows and \u201cThe View,\u201d saying there\u2019s a difference between a \u201cbona fide news interview\u201d and partisan politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cA program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent,\u201d the Media Bureau said in its unsigned four-page document. <\/p>\n
The bureau encouraged broadcasters to seek an opinion from the FCC to make sure their shows were in compliance \u2014 an advisory that will likely raise anxiety and potentially prompt some TV station groups to scrutinize shows that delve deeply into politics.<\/p>\n
ABC, CBS and NBC declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, the FCC has stepped up its involvement in overseeing content \u2014 a departure from past practice. <\/p>\n
Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Kimmel, Colbert, NBC comedian Seth Meyers and various hosts of \u201cThe View.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, \u201cThe View\u201d featured former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a Trump acolyte who has become a fierce critic of the president.<\/p>\n
Daniel Suhr, president of the conservative Center for American Rights, applauded the FCC move in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis important action puts Hollywood hosts and network executives on notice \u2014 they can no longer shower Democrats with free airtime while shutting out Republicans,\u201d Suhr said. The organization has lodged several complaints with the FCC about alleged media bias.<\/p>\n
Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democrat on the three-person commission, quickly blasted the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor decades, the Commission has recognized that bona fide news interviews, late-night programs, and daytime news shows are entitled to editorial discretion based on newsworthiness, not political favoritism,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cThis announcement therefore does not change the law, but it does represent an escalation in this FCC\u2019s ongoing campaign to censor and control speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 1st Amendment does not yield to government intimidation,\u201d she said. \u201cBroadcasters should not feel pressured to water down, sanitize or avoid critical coverage out of fear of regulatory retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The precedent was established in 2006, when the FCC determined that then-NBC late-night host Jay Leno\u2019s \u201cTonight Show\u201d interview with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who announced his bid for California governor, was a \u201cbona fide\u201d news event, and thus not subject to the FCC rule. <\/p>\n
The FCC said that station groups need not rely on that 2006 decision because the agency \u201chas not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify\u201d for such an exemption.<\/p>\n
The FCC\u2019s guidance does not apply to cable news programs \u2014 only shows that run on broadcast television, which is subject to FCC enforcement actions. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Federal Communications Commission is taking aim at broadcast networks\u2019 late-night and daytime talk shows, including ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View,\u201d which often feature politicians as guests. On Wednesday, the FCC\u2019s Media Bureau issued a public notice saying broadcast TV stations would be obligated to provide equal time to an opposing political candidate if an appearance by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2244862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FCC-says-talk-shows-may-have-to-provide-equal-time.com2Fdf2F0c2Fdde98de84887b6b2f7d4fb0b.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244861"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2244863,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244861\/revisions\/2244863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2244862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}