ENTERTAINMENTABC's Clash With the Federal Communications Commission Puts 'The View' in the Hot Seat
ABC challenged the Federal Communications Commission over its review of ‘The View.’
Aug. 4 2026, Published 6:31 a.m. ET
ABC’s clash with the Federal Communications Commission is becoming a bigger fight over what kind of show The View is allowed to be.
In a new filing Thursday, ABC asked the FCC to dismiss an early license renewal proceeding targeting eight Disney-owned ABC stations. The network called the move “extraordinary and unprecedented,” arguing that the agency is targeting ABC because the administration dislikes viewpoints expressed on its programs.
The network argued regulators targeted its editorial viewpoints.
The filing comes as the FCC examines whether The View qualifies as a “bona fide” news program, a designation that would exempt it from equal opportunity rules for giving airtime to political candidates.
ABC Pushes Back
The Federal Communications Commission examined whether ‘The View’ qualified as a news program.
ABC submitted the stations for early renewal “under protest,” noting the move came shortly after the administration called for action against Jimmy Kimmel over a joke on his late-night show.
ABC warned that the fight is not limited to one network.
“The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price,” the filing states.
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What Is 'The View?'
An expert said the show's identity was central to the dispute.
“Let me start with the question nobody seems willing to ask directly: has The View ever actually claimed to be a news program?” said Amore Philip, founder of Apples and Oranges Public Relations. “Because if the answer is no, this entire FCC conversation needs a different frame.”
Philip said the show’s identity is central to the dispute.
“The View is an opinion show,” Philip asserted. “It is a group of women, several of them highly overpaid, sharing their perspectives on politics, culture, and current events from a specific and largely consistent ideological direction.”
The problem, according to Philip, is that The View is trying to have it both ways.
“The smart move for a show like The View is clarity of identity: own that it is opinion and commentary, not a newscast,” she advised. “That distinction is both a legal shield and a brand asset, and ambiguity is what invites regulatory pressure.”
The Booking Fallout
The dispute intensified concerns over political commentary on television.
ABC said the FCC “now appears poised” to require The View to provide equal opportunities to all legally qualified candidates if it interviews one candidate, which the network called a reversal of decades of precedent.
“If the FCC signals that commentary shows are subject to equal time considerations, producers will face impossible choices about which political figures to invite and in what balance,” Philip said.
“The real question at the center of this debate is one that The View has never had to answer publicly: what are you, exactly? A news program with accountability standards. An entertainment show with editorial freedom. Or something in between that gets to claim the benefits of both without the responsibilities of either,” Philip said. “The FCC scrutiny is forcing that conversation. And it is long overdue.”
