Disney-owned ABC on Tuesday urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject a proposal to declare its daytime talk show "The View" subject to federal equal time rules for political candidates while ignoring conservative talk radio shows.
In February, the FCC said it was investigating whether "The View" violated equal time rules for interviews with political candidates, after an appearance by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico.
The FCC said daytime and late-night TV talk shows are no longer considered "bona fide" news programs exempt from the rule.
"The commission has trained its attention on daytime and late-night television -- programs perceived as unfriendly to the current administration — while leaving untouched the vast landscape of talk radio, where candidates routinely appear without their opponents," said ABC's filing.
The FCC did not immediately comment.
"The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor’s chair," ABC said. "Yet that is the seat the commission now proposes to take -- deciding which broadcast programs qualify as legitimate news and, for those it finds wanting, compelling them to surrender their airtime to guests they never chose to feature."
More than 77,000 comments have been filed and ABC said the vast majority were in support of "The View." Last month, ABC launched an on-air campaign encouraging viewers to show support for the network in its ongoing battles with the U.S. government.
The equal time rule, which dates back to the 1930s, requires entertainment programs broadcast over the public airwaves to grant equal time to political candidates for the same office.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded the FCC strip ABC stations of their broadcast licenses.
The agency in March ordered ABC to seek a ruling that "The View" qualified as a bona fide news program.
ABC said the FCC in 2002 declared the show was such a program and noted hundreds of political candidates had appeared on it since then.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr separately ordered an early review of licenses for Disney's eight ABC stations in April, a day after Trump demanded ABC late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel be fired for a joke. The FCC has not revoked a broadcast license in more than four decades.
