ABC is hoping to enlist a powerful ally in its clash with the Federal Communications Commission: millions of highly engaged viewers of its daytime-TV talk show “The View.”
In an unusual move, ABC began airing direct appeals to the audience Monday during the show’s commercial breaks, asking viewers to support the program in a battle with the F.C.C. over political speech.
“‘The View’ has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years,” a voice intones on a 20-second spot. “Now, the F.C.C. wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show.”
The spot concludes with a QR code that directs viewers to the F.C.C.’s website.
The F.C.C. has for months been investigating whether “The View” violated federal rules requiring equal airtime for rival political candidates. The inquiry could also affect the agency’s broader review of whether ABC can continue to own local television stations in some of the country’s most valuable markets. The F.C.C. has offered the public a limited chance to weigh in on those reviews.
The agency’s inquiry of “The View” is one of many battles that the White House has waged against the media in President Trump’s second term. Brendan Carr, the chairman of the F.C.C., has opened investigations into NBCUniversal, NPR, PBS and CBS News since taking office, and Mr. Trump has personally sued several news outlets, including The New York Times, in response to critical coverage.
In 2024, the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s corporate parent, settled one of those lawsuits, filed by Mr. Trump over an interview on the public affairs show “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” for $15 million.
But the company has aggressively pushed back against the F.C.C. review of its ownership of local stations and its scrutiny of “The View.” It called one of the agency’s maneuvers “unprecedented, beyond the commission’s authority and counterproductive to the commission’s stated goal of encouraging free speech and open political discussion,” in a filing with the F.C.C.
A spokeswoman for the F.C.C. said in a statement that Disney’s TV campaign was “misleading viewers about the law.”
ABC is also airing other commercials throughout the day encouraging viewers to support the network on TV stations that are owned and operated by Disney across the United States, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and Fresno, Calif.
TV networks commonly use their airwaves to enlist viewers in business disputes, usually routine negotiations with TV distributors. But they rarely run appeals asking audiences for support against the F.C.C., an influential agency that holds sway over which companies are allowed to own and operate valuable local TV stations.
