FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Friday announced that the agency has opened the public comment period on a petition from Disney and the ABC network to maintain an equal time exemption for its news analysis program "The View." File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
May 22 (UPI) -- The Federal Communications Commission on Friday opened public comment on a petition from the Disney-owned network ABC to declare its show The View as a "bona fide news interview program."
Disney submitted the petition in early May on behalf of its television station KTRK-TV in Houston and its parent company ABC for the declaration in order to receive an exemption from laws requiring that non-news programming include equal time for representation of political candidates for office.
The equal time rule is part of the Communications Act of 1934, which created the FCC and regulations for the use of wire and radio, and later television, communications.
The rule is meant to ensure equal access to broadcast station facilities for all candidates for office -- essentially, the same amount of air time -- to prevent broadcasters from using the public airwaves to push one political candidate or party over another.
