ABC is pushing back at the Federal Communications Commission over its investigation into The View, saying the agency is trying to chill critical protected speech. In a filing with the FCC, ABC and its Texas affiliate KTRK argued that the daytime talk show is exempt from the equal time rule because it is a bona fide news interview program.
The filing puts the broadcaster directly against FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who alleged earlier this year that The View violated the equal time rule when it interviewed James Talarico, a Democrat running for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas. ABC and KTRK’s lawyers said the commission’s approach is counterproductive to the FCC’s stated goal of encouraging free speech and open political discussion.
said the commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and could chill critical protected speech both on The View and more broadly. The company’s broadcast licenses were not due to expire until 2028, but an FCC filing indicated the early renewal request is tied to a previous investigation into ABC’s DEI practices.
The confrontation comes after a run of pressure on ABC from the agency. The FCC told it must renew its broadcast licenses amid the fallout of Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial joke about Melania Trump, and Kimmel was taken off the air for nearly a week last September after he made comments about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The latest fight adds a new front to the abc fcc first amendment dispute, with the network arguing that the commission is testing the limits of what broadcasters will say on air.
Free-speech advocates quickly moved to back ABC. Seth Stern said, “We commend ABC for standing up for itself and the First Amendment,” adding that the legal theories the FCC asserts against broadcast licensees are “frivolous and unconstitutional” and that Carr knows it, but hopes broadcasters will self-censor rather than pick a fight. Jessica J. González said she was pleased that ABC had finally learned that bullies do not stop when companies cower in a corner, and said Carr has “blatantly and repeatedly abused his power to silence speech that displeases Trump.”
González also said the fight reaches beyond one show or one network, warning that it harms audiences as well as broadcasters. That is the core of ABC’s filing: the company is not just defending The View, but the principle that a government agency should not use licensing power to lean on speech it dislikes. The next test is whether the FCC treats the response as a routine dispute or as a challenge to the way it has been pressuring broadcasters across the board.
