ABC launches on-air campaign encouraging viewers to support ‘The View’ in battle with Trump’s FCC

ABC on Monday launched an on-air campaign urging viewers to support "The View" and eight Disney-owned ABC affiliates in its battle with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Earlier this year, the FCC launched an investigation into ABC's "The View" amid the agency's crackdown on equal time for political candidates after Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico appeared on the daytime gabfest. Disney’s ABC believes "The View" is bona fide news and, therefore, exempt from the equal time rule.  

ABC’s new campaign features a petition to declare that "The View" indeed qualifies as a bona fide news interview program. A commercial debuted Monday during the program that declared, "’The View has welcomed your favorite guests for nearly 30 years. Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show. Tell the FCC to let the viewers decide. You have until July 6th." 

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The campaign also encourages ABC News viewers to support early broadcast license renewals for eight ABC-owned stations. 

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in April that KFSN-TV in Fresno, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KGO-TV in San Francisco, WLS-TV in Chicago, WABC-TV in New York, WTVD in North Carolina, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia and KTRK-TV in Houston must prove they have been operating in the public interest as part of an ongoing look at Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI] practices. 

Disney-owned ABC affiliates’ licenses were originally scheduled to be renewed between 2028 and 2031, but Trump’s FCC expedited the process. 

ABC launched ads in those markets that declared, "The FCC is questioning our commitment to viewers by threatening to take us off the air," and urged viewers to speak up and help. ABC wants viewers to offer public comment through the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System online and enter the corresponding docket number along with their submission. 

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Both campaigns will also run online and across ABC social media platforms as ABC honchos feel it is important for the public to know what’s at stake and how to engage directly in the process. While the two issues are separate, ABC insists they both involve the same free speech principle. 

When reached for comment, the FCC accused Disney of "misleading" viewers. 

"Disney wants the FCC to classify 'The View' as a 'bona fide news program.’ And it has chosen to run a campaign of misinformation to make its case—misleading viewers about the law. That is a choice," an FCC spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

In January, the FCC announced it would require the broadcast networks to adhere to the "statutory equal opportunities requirement," citing the Communications Act of 1934, "including their airing of late-night and daytime talk shows."

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There has been a longstanding "bona fide" exception for news programming that wouldn't require equal time for an opposing candidate, but the FCC now says it "has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on the air presently would qualify for the 'bona fide' news exemption."

A spokesperson for the FCC previously told Fox News Digital, "Decades ago, Congress passed a law that generally prohibits broadcast television programs from putting a thumb on the scale in favor of one political candidate over another.  Specifically, Congress put protections in place to ensure that covered programs offer legally qualified candidates for office (both Republican and Democrat) equal time on the public airwaves.  

"The equal time law encourages more speech and empowers voters to decide the outcome of elections. The FCC will review Disney’s assertion that ‘The View’ is a 'bona fide news program' and thus exempt from the political equal time rules."