What TV’s Equal Time Rule Is — and What It Isn’t

The Trump campaign is highly focused on equality — equality of TV time, that is.

After it was first reported that Vice President Kamala Harris would appear on “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted, “This is a clear and blatant effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule.”

“The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased and partisan conduct — a licensed broadcaster using the public airwaves to exert its influence for one candidate on the eve of an election,” Carr continued. “Unless the broadcaster offered Equal Time to other qualifying campaigns.”

Speaking of biased and partisan, Carr was appointed commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission by President Donald Trump in 2017. He’s also wrong about one part: Broadcasters do not need to offer political opponents Equal Time, especially preemptively — they just need to respond appropriately to such requests, as NBC seems to have done here. The broadcaster is not on the hook to be proactive here, but rather reactive.

Harris appeared in the “SNL” cold open opposite Maya Rudolph (as Kamala Harris). The cameo was a surprise considering the show’s executive producer, Lorne Michaels, previously told THR that he probably would not invite Harris or Trump on. He even cited the Equal Time rule as his reason why.

“You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,” Michaels said at the time. “You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated.”

Michaels was right about one thing: The Equal Time rule itself is pretty complicated.

For starters, the Equal Time rule is technically not even called the “Equal Time” rule; officially, it is titled “Equal Opportunities.” Colloquially and practically, it makes more sense to focus on time.

No matter what you call it, the FCC rule is meant to “ensure that no legally qualified candidate for office is unfairly given less access to the airwaves — outside of bona fide news exemptions — than their opponent,” in the regulatory organization’s own words.

The “airwaves” distinction is important here: Cable and streaming are exempt from the rule as they are not governed by the FCC and therefore do not carry the same burden of being in the public interest as broadcast TV does. That’s why broadcast is free and still accessible with an antenna. (It’s also why you can’t curse or show nudity on broadcast television, which is probably why you don’t watch broadcast television.)

A “legally qualified candidate” must meet certain criteria. The person must have “publicly announced their intention to run for office,” they must be legally allowed to hold the office being sought, and have qualified for a place on the ballot. There is a carveout for a candidate running as a write-in, but they must have “made a substantial showing of his/her candidacy,” per the FCC; it’s a pretty long list, and if one checks its boxes, they probably should have an actual box to check on the ballot.

Equal Opportunities does not require a station to “provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate.” In other words, Michaels did not have to invite Trump just because he hosted Harris. Rather, NBC had to provide Trump with “comparable time and placement.”

NBC accommodated the Trump campaign’s request via ad spots totaling 90 seconds during a NASCAR event and on “Sunday Night Football,” a person with knowledge of the plan told IndieWire. “Sunday Night Football” is the highest-rated telecast across all of TV — and you know how Trump feels about ratings.