The FCC's Media Bureau tells broadcasters that no talk-show interview now on air qualifies for the equal-time exemption
The FCC's Media Bureau issued guidance stating that it "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" from the equal opportunities requirement, and encouraged any station or program seeking assurance to file a petition for declaratory ruling.
What happened
Public Notice DA 26-68, released 21 January 2026. The guidance addresses the equal opportunities requirement of 47 U.S.C. 315, under which a station giving airtime to one legally qualified candidate must give comparable time and placement to opposing candidates. Since a 2006 Media Bureau staff decision involving The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the industry has read talk-show candidate interviews as falling under the bona fide news interview exemption. The notice states that reading is wrong: the 2006 decision was program-specific and creates no blanket exemption, and no talk show currently on air has been shown to qualify. It directs programs or stations wanting formal assurance to file a petition for declaratory ruling.
Why it matters
The exemption is what let a candidate sit for a late-night interview without triggering a station’s obligation to offer comparable time to every opponent. Withdrawing the industry’s reading of it moves the decision about whether an interview is worth the regulatory exposure from the broadcaster to the licence risk, and the notice puts the burden on the station to come and ask. The first documented effect came in February. CBS pulled Stephen Colbert’s interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico from his Monday, 16 February 2026 broadcast, the night before early voting opened in the Texas primaries; Colbert told his audience “we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” and CBS said “the show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates.” The interview went to YouTube instead. On 9 September 2026 Jimmy Kimmel announced the same decision about the same candidate, saying the Commission “has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations, based on simple, traditional editorial decisions, guest bookings it would seem they don’t like,” and that “Out of consideration for our local stations, especially our ABC affiliates in Texas, who would have to deal with this nonsense, my interview tomorrow with James Talarico will not air on television.” No FCC order, letter or public statement concerning either interview has been identified; the Commission’s sole Democratic member, Anna Gomez, said of Kimmel’s announcement that “No host, local affiliate, or network should have to weigh federal retaliation before booking a guest for a newsworthy interview.” What the record shows is a rule change in January and two broadcasters, seven months apart, declining to put a named Senate candidate on air.
Sources
docs.fcc.gov, docs.fcc.gov, reason.com, deadline.com, elias.law, apnews.com, nbcnews.com