NBC’s apparent attempt to give Kamala Harris a last-minute boost with a cringey spot on “Saturday Night Live” — which some critics have called an “in-kind donation” — appears to have been strategically timed in order to “evade” Federal Communications Commission rules, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said ahead of the Nov. 2 broadcast.
Carr, in the Republican minority on the commission, noted on X ahead of Harris’ appearance, “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.”
While the FCC’s equal opportunities rule established by the Communications Act of 1934 does not require that networks like NBC “provide opposing candidates with programs identical to the initiating candidate,” networks generally must provide “comparable time and placement.”
Carr indicated that in recent elections, NBC at least made an effort to follow the equal time rule.
The Hollywood Reporter noted, for instance, that in 2015, then-candidate Trump appeared on “Saturday Night Live” during the Republican primary for a total of 12 minutes and five seconds. NBC subsequently offered the same amount of airtime to his opponents.
“NBC stations publicly filed Equal Opportunity notices to ensure that all other qualifying candidates could obtain Equal Time if they sought it,” wrote the commissioner. “Stations did the same thing when Clinton appeared on SNL.”
The equal time rule did not require NBC to seek out President Donald Trump and ask him if he similarly wanted to appear on “Saturday Night Live” but requires that the network entertain requests by the Republican president.
Carr suggested that the last-minute nature of Harris’ “Saturday Night Live” spot was ostensibly the liberal outlet’s way of flouting the FCC’s rule.
Hellbound and Down 