The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is cracking down on partisan talk shows in both daytime and late night in an effort to provide equal treatment for political candidates.
The FCC announced Wednesday it is providing guidance to the three 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."
"Under section 315, if a broadcast station permits any legally qualified candidate for public office to use its facilities, it shall provide an equal opportunity to all other legally qualified candidates for that office," the FCC wrote in a press release.
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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."
"Moreover, a program that is motivated by partisan purposes, for example, would not be entitled to an exemption under longstanding FCC precedent," the FCC states. "Any program or station that wishes to obtain formal assurance that the equal opportunities requirement does not apply (in whole or in part) is encouraged to promptly file a petition for declaratory ruling that satisfies the statutory requirements for a bona fide news exemption."
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FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote on X, "For years, legacy TV networks assumed that their late night & daytime talk shows qualify as 'bona fide news' programs - even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes. Today, the FCC reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities."
The move will likely rattle ABC's daytime talk show "The View" as well as its late-night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" and CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," which has been canceled but will remain on the air until May.
A study conducted last month by the Media Research Center found that "The View" had 128 liberal guests on the show throughout 2025 while only inviting two conservatives.
The two conservatives cited in the study were actress Cheryl Hines, the wife of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.
For years, liberal late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers rolled out the red carpet for Team Blue, so much so that the Media Research Center found that while dozens of Democrats appeared on their programs in 2025, zero Republicans were given such a platform.
