Disney is trying to defend The View from an FCC investigation.
It's not off to a great start.
Disney told one big lie about The View to the FCC that backfired big time.
Disney's Own Stations Called the Bluff
The FCC opened an investigation into The View after Democrat Texas Senate candidate James Talarico appeared on the show February 2 – one of the first political candidates to do so after the agency announced it would enforce equal-time rules against daytime and late-night talk shows.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr was not impressed with how Disney responded.
"When you look at the lineup of guests that have typically been on The View, I think it's an uphill climb for Disney to make the case that they're just a straight news program," Carr said Friday on Fox Business.
Disney never filed equal-time paperwork with the FCC for Talarico's appearance – the implicit claim that The View qualifies as bona fide news and is exempt from the rules.
The FCC wasn't buying it.
"Disney's 'The View' is now asserting to the FCC that they are a bona fide news program. And we started an enforcement action there. We've issued letters of inquiry, which are versions of subpoenas," Carr confirmed.
The Affiliates Aren't Buying It Either
That's where Disney's defense fell apart completely.
Dozens of ABC affiliates across Texas – stations that air The View but aren't owned by Disney – quietly filed equal-time notices with the FCC.
Affiliates in Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and nearly every other major Texas market broke from Disney and acknowledged that Talarico's appearance triggered equal-time obligations.
Disney's own broadcast partners said what Disney won't admit: The View is not news.
The only Texas ABC affiliate that did not file was Houston's KTRK – the one station in the state that Disney actually owns.
FCC sources said the non-Disney stations acted because they don't want legal exposure for a claim Disney is making on their behalf.
Those filings now open the door for Talarico's primary rival, Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett, to demand equal airtime across those markets.
Joy Behar Called It a News Show. The Numbers Called Her Bluff.
Disney wants the FCC to believe The View is journalism.
The Media Research Center spent all of 2025 watching.
Their verdict: 128 liberal guests, 25 of them Democrat politicians, two conservatives – across an entire year of programming housed inside ABC's News division.
In the first seven months alone, not one right-leaning guest made it through the door for a political discussion. Not one.
Chuck Schumer got a seat. Elizabeth Warren got a seat. Jasmine Crockett sat down three times in under a year.
The last Republican who didn't openly hate Trump to appear was Chris Sununu of New Hampshire – and that was August 2024.
Whoopi Goldberg dropped any remaining pretense during Talarico's February 2 appearance, endorsing both Democrat candidates in the Texas Senate race on live television: "Regardless of who wins this particular race, Texas will be better for it."
Journalism doesn't do that. Campaign surrogates do.
The View Is a Democrat Super PAC With a Press Badge
Democrats spent four years screaming about threats to democracy.
The View – sitting inside ABC's News division, collecting news program protections, dodging equal-time obligations – is an unregistered Democrat Super PAC that attacks Trump five days a week and books Democrat Senate candidates like a campaign office.
Talarico received nearly ten minutes of uncontested airtime on February 2.
Crockett banked over seventeen minutes across three separate appearances.
None of the Republicans running in the Texas Senate race got any air time.
That's not an oversight. The View doesn't book Republicans. It books Democrats and calls it news coverage.
"Congress passed a law, and they didn't want media gatekeepers to be deciding the outcomes of elections by having exclusively one political candidate or one political party on all the time," Carr said.
Joy Behar and crew have been deciding exactly that – from inside ABC's News division – for years.
The FCC just served subpoenas. Disney's own affiliates just turned on them. The lie has a shelf life, and it just expired.
Sources:
- Madison Colombo, "FCC chair warns 'The View' faces 'uphill climb' in equal-time probe," Fox Business, February 27, 2026.
- Joseph Wulfsohn and Brian Flood, "FCC launching probe into ABC's 'The View' amid crackdown on equal time for candidates," Fox News Digital, February 7, 2026.
- Joseph Wulfsohn, "Texas-based ABC affiliates file equal time notices as FCC cracks down on 'The View' over Talarico segment," Fox News, February 25, 2026.
- Nicholas Fondacaro, "2025: The View Chatted Politics with 128 Lib Guests, 2 Conservatives," NewsBusters, December 22, 2025.
- Nicholas Fondacaro, "The View Invited ZERO Right-Leaning Guests in First 3 Months of 2025," NewsBusters, April 8, 2025.
