ABC says FCC already ruled The View a bona fide news program

ABC told federal regulators that the FCC already ruled in 2002 that The View is a bona fide news program, arguing the daytime talk show has long been exempt from equal-opportunities requirements. The filing landed as the agency considers whether the program still qualifies for the news interview exemption that can spare broadcasters from having to give comparable airtime to opposing candidates.

In its May 7 filing, ABC responded to an FCC Media Bureau public notice that asked for comment on Disney’s petition seeking a declaratory ruling that The View qualifies as a bona fide news interview program. The agency’s notice set a June 22 comment deadline and a July 6 deadline for reply comments, pulling an old classification into a fresh fight over broadcast obligations and the political pressure surrounding the show.

ABC said the issue was not the format of The View, but the climate around it. The network argued that the program has operated under the news exemption for decades and warned that the FCC cannot “sit in an editor’s chair,” casting the dispute as a First Amendment and editorial-independence fight rather than a routine licensing matter.

The proceeding has drawn more than 76,000 public comments, a sign of how much political attention the case has attracted. ABC also pointed to the current host lineup named in FCC materials: Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Ana Navarro.

At the center of the case is the equal opportunities rule, which can require broadcasters to give comparable airtime to competing candidates unless an exemption applies. ABC is pressing the agency to recognize that The View belongs in the same protected category as other news programming, while critics and regulators are testing whether the show’s mix of commentary, interviews and political debate still fits the exemption.

The filing comes against a broader backdrop of scrutiny under FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and the Trump administration, with ABC framing the matter as part of a larger effort to police speech and press freedom through regulatory pressure. The company’s position is that the format has not changed, only the political temperature around it.