Disney's ABC spars with the FCC (again) in defense of 'The View'

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Set us as preferred Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network has stepped up its defense of “The View” amid its battle with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr who has targeted the network’s programming and its hiring policies.At issue is whether “The View,” still qualifies for an exception to FCC rules that require broadcasters to provide equal air time for opponents of various political candidates.Carr has called the daytime talk show “overtly political.” Late Monday, ABC filed documents with the FCC to support its request for a declaratory ruling that “The View” is indeed a bona fide news interview program entitled to the equal-time rule exemption that covers newscasts, political debates and documentaries.

The show was granted the exception in 2002.“Today, the program in the Commission’s sights is The View,” ABC said in this week’s filing.“The principle in the balance is far larger: whether a federal regulator may override a broadcaster’s editorial judgment about whom to interview — a judgment the Constitution commits to broadcasters and their audiences, not to the state.”Since the FCC opened its inquiry in late May, the agency has received more than 77,000 public comments — most in support of the long-running daytime talk show.

Hollywood Inc.The Disney Co.-owned ABC station licenses are under scrutiny as the company faces ire over late-night gags about the White House Correspondents’ Assn.

dinner.Separately, the FCC also took the unusual step of calling in the licenses of eight Disney-owned television stations for early review.The move — widely interpreted as an effort to chill the Disney network’s speech — came a day after President Trump demanded that ABC fire its late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about First Lady Melania Trump.Losing the licenses for its s...