What Is the Equal Opportunities Rule? FCC Regulation Explained as ABC Claims First Amendment Violation

On May 7, 2026, ABC submitted a filing to the Federal Communications Commission arguing the FCC infringed on the network’s First Amendment rights.

ABC submitted the filing after the FCC asked an ABC-owned broadcast station in March to file a formal request for the FCC to determine whether ABC’s “The View” is exempt from the FCC’s equal opportunities rule, even though the talk show has held an exemption from the rule since 2002.

The equal opportunities rule says that if a legally qualified candidate for office appears on a broadcast station, that station is required to give equal time to all other candidates who request it.

“The View” holds one of several exemptions from the rule, what’s known as the “bona fide news interview” exemption.

In its May 7 filing, ABC makes the case that “The View” continues to meet the requirements for the exemption and raises First Amendment concerns about the FCC’s request that the station ask the agency to reaffirm its exemption, as well as about the FCC’s general application of the rule.

The FCC has not publicly released the March document but has made statements defending the decision and its interpretation of the equal opportunities rule.

The request came months after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he didn’t believe “The View,” and similar daytime and late-night talk shows, should qualify, citing concerns about partisan bias on the shows.

In a separate action, the FCC ordered early review of several ABC station license renewals, citing an FCC investigation into Disney’s diversity policies.

In this article, we explain the equal opportunities rule, the First Amendment issues it can raise, and what happens if the FCC determines a broadcaster has violated it.

The FCC’s regulatory authority

The FCC is a federal agency that “regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.”

A key part of the FCC’s mission is to ensure that broadcast radio and television stations, the ones that are free to access “over-the-air" via an antenna without a cable or satellite subscription or via streaming, act in the public interest.

Consistent with this mission, courts have recognized that the FCC can regulate broadcast channels more strictly than other forms of media because there is a limit to the number of public channels that can exist and because these networks have unique reach and accessibility to the American public (concepts known as “scarcity” and “pervasiveness”).

The FCC’s regulatory authority over broadcast channels is not unlimited. The agency is still bound by the First Amendment, and the Communications Act of 1934 explicitly bars the FCC from censoring the stations or interfering with their free speech rights.

This means the FCC must apply any regulations impacting broadcasters’ content equally and not target any particular viewpoint.

One of these regulations is the equal opportunities rule.

What is the equal opportunities rule?

The equal opportunities rule requires that if a TV or radio station gives airtime to a candidate for office, the station must provide an opportunity for a similar amount of airtime in a similar type of situation on the same station if other candidates in the race ask for it.

The rule applies only to “legally qualified” candidates for public office.

Stations may comply with the rule by choosing not to air programing that features legally qualified candidates for office or by granting equal time to all other candidates who seek time after one candidate appears.

Stations can also apply for one of four news-related exemptions for programs that are eligible and likely to trigger the equal opportunities rule:

1. Bona fide newscasts
2. Bona fide news interviews
3. Bona fide news documentaries
4. On-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events

In determining whether an interview program is eligible for one of these exemptions, the FCC considers:

1. Whether the program is regularly scheduled
2. Whether the broadcaster or an independent producer controls the program
3. Whether decisions on interviews are based on newsworthiness

These exemptions allow, for example, a TV reporter to interview a candidate without the station needing to interview or otherwise feature every other candidate in the race for a similar amount of time.

Congress established these exemptions to encourage more coverage of political campaigns and allow news organizations to exercise their own judgement on the newsworthiness of candidates. Many talk shows have qualified for an exemption, including Phil Donahue's program in 1984, Howard Stern in 2003 and Jay Leno in 2006.

Last year, FCC Chairman Carr said he believes daytime talk shows, like “The View,” and late-night talk shows should be subject to the equal opportunities rule, even though, since 2002, the FCC has uniformly granted this exemption to similar talk shows that have requested it.

And in January 2026 guidance, the FCC urged broadcasters to take care to abide by the equal opportunities rule and encouraged stations that were unsure whether the rule applied to a particular program to simply file a formal petition seeking an answer.

“The FCC has 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 for the bona fide news exemption,” the guidance said. “Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent.”

The FCC can fine a specific broadcast station (as opposed to the network) found to be in violation of the equal opportunities rule. When the station’s license is up for renewal, the agency also considers that violation when determining whether the station meets its obligation to act in the public’s interest.

What First Amendment concerns does the equal opportunities rule raise?

Does it burden freedoms of speech and the press?

Complying with the equal opportunities rule could place a burden on networks and the programs they run. If the rule is applied in a way that restricts a significant amount of speech, a court could find it to be overly broad and restrictive of broadcasters’ speech and press rights.

As a U.S. Court of Appeals explained, “absent evidence of broadcaster intent to advance a particular candidacy, the judgment of the newsworthiness of an event is left to the reasonable news judgment of professionals.”

In its filing, ABC argues that the equal opportunities rule may violate the First Amendment because it overly burdens broadcasters' speech and press rights.

According to the network, the rule “means a broadcaster will be compelled to change its offerings and broadcast speech it views as unnewsworthy.”

ABC also argues that the rule sometimes causes broadcasters to “self-censor and refrain from speech it believes is newsworthy to avoid obligations to multitudes of less-newsworthy aspirants to elected office.”

If “The View” had to offer equal time to every qualified candidate, ABC argues, that would mean the program would not speak with candidates from certain states — the biggest states, in fact — because there are too many legally qualified candidates. ABC cites California’s primary contest for governor, where more than 60 candidates will be on the ballot but only a handful are considered front runners.

An FCC spokesperson said the agency would review ABC’s filing.

The equal opportunities rule “encourages more speech and empowers voters to decide the outcome of elections,” the spokesperson said.

In its January guidance, the FCC said the news exemptions were narrowly written to include only “bona fide” news because of “Congressional concern that broadcast stations would apply the exemptions too broadly in service of a political agenda and thereby frustrate the original purpose of the equal opportunities requirement.”

In a May 22 public notice seeking comment on whether “The View” deserves an exemption, the FCC asked whether “The View’s” decisions on format and participants are ”based on newsworthiness or on an attempt to oppose or support particular candidates within the meaning of FCC precedent.”

Does it discriminate based on content or viewpoint?

Which types of programs are subject to the equal opportunities rule can also raise First Amendment considerations. The FCC must apply its regulations in a content- and viewpoint-neutral manner, meaning they are enforced equally, regardless of the views expressed and content shared by the broadcasters.

ABC argues that the FCC engaged in content-based discrimination when it asked “The View” to demonstrate that it still qualifies for the exemption because the FCC has not made the same request of other shows, like “Meet the Press,” that use a different format.

“Given the inherent value-laden judgments that the FCC must make when determining whether a particular program is newsworthy, the risk that the FCC will use its authority to suppress disfavored content and viewpoints is overwhelming,” the filing said. “What is newsworthy to today’s FCC may not be newsworthy to the FCC in the next Administration.”

The broadcaster also said that the FCC’s request constitutes viewpoint discrimination. The FCC raised concerns about the partisan nature of “The View.” However, ABC notes the FCC’s January 2026 guidance “was addressed exclusively to daytime and late night talk shows on television, ignoring the landscape of avowedly partisan talk radio shows.”

The FCC’s January guidance specifically addresses late-night shows because, it argues, such programs have assumed a blanket exemption since the FCC ruled in favor of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” show in 2006. The guidance says the 2006 decision was contrary to prior FCC rulings and says each show must obtain an exemption on a case-by-case basis.

Does the modern media landscape change the argument for the FCC’s authority?

Stations regulated by the FCC face more content restrictions than other media. Some legal experts have argued that, especially in the modern era, as media has diversified, this presents First Amendment concerns.

ABC makes these arguments in its filing, suggesting that entire justification for the equal opportunities rule — and perhaps the FCC’s regulation of certain broadcast content generally — may violate the First Amendment.

The network says the concepts of scarcity and pervasiveness no longer exist in a world with near-limitless content and a wide diversity of viewpoints. According to ABC, this raises questions about the legal justification for a rule targeting a certain class of speakers (broadcasters) and treating them differently than other speakers (cable, satellite, newspapers and internet outlets).

In addition to noting the First Amendment doesn’t distinguish between different types of media, ABC argues the justifications for this different treatment adopted decades ago are “unsupportable now in an age of information ubiquity” and that the public no longer relies on broadcasters “when seemingly endless sources of information abound at the tap of a smartphone.”

Courts have not ruled against the FCC’s ability to continue regulating broadcast stations to ensure they act in the public’s interest.

FCC Chairman Carr has reiterated that authority, recently suggesting that the agency can revoke licenses over coverage of the war in Iran.

“The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not,” he posted to X on March 14.

The bottom line on the FCC’s equal opportunities rule and the First Amendment

The FCC’s equal opportunities rule exists to keep broadcast stations from using their influence to benefit any particular candidate. The rule’s carve-outs for “bona fide news” are important to preserve the press freedom and free speech protections of broadcasters.

ABC’s filing critiques the agency’s application of the rule to talk shows that blend news and entertainment while raising questions about whether the rule itself, and the FCC’s overall authority, violates the First Amendment.

"We're going to work through the process there," Carr told CNBC on May 18. "Disney is claiming that “The View” is a bona fide news program, and we'll see what the FCC says about that."

On May 22, the FCC announced it’s accepting public comments on whether “The View” should receive an exemption from the rule.

If the FCC finds the exemption does not apply, stations that continue to air the show could face fines or lose their licenses.

Katie Bernard is a rapid response writer at Freedom Forum. She can be reached at [email protected].

Kevin Goldberg is a vice president and First Amendment expert at Freedom Forum. He can be reached at [email protected].