Why ABC is running ads asking you to defend The View from the government
Disney’s network launched an on-air campaign telling viewers to weigh in on two FCC probes, one targeting The View and one targeting its local stations. The FCC fired back the same day, calling it “misinformation.” Here’s how the show got into this mess.
If you’ve watched ABC this week, you may have seen the network do something unusual: ask you to go file a comment with a federal agency.
That’s not a normal thing for a TV channel to do. The reason ABC is doing it tells a bigger story, and this week it turned into an open fight, with the government firing back the same day.
What’s actually happening
ABC started running ads on Monday asking viewers to take its side against the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that regulates TV and radio.
The FCC is going after ABC on two fronts at once. One targets the talk show The View. The other targets the local ABC stations in eight cities. ABC made an ad for each fight and pointed viewers to a QR code where they can send the FCC a comment.
Both ads use the same move: tell people what’s at stake, then ask them to speak up before a deadline.
The fight over The View
Here’s the first one.
There’s a rule called the equal time rule. If a TV station puts a political candidate on the air, it generally has to offer the same chance to that candidate’s rivals. For decades, news and talk shows like The View have been treated as exempt, because they count as news programs.
The FCC opened a probe in February asking whether The View should still get that exemption. It started after the show had a Democratic Senate candidate from Texas on as a guest. If the show loses its news label, it would have to start offering equal time to opposing candidates, which changes who it can book.
ABC’s ad leans on the show’s history. It uses the voice of the show’s late creator, Barbara Walters, and tells viewers, “Now the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show.” It points people to a QR code with a July 6 deadline to comment.
How The View went from coffee talk to a political lightning rod
Part of why this fight is even happening is that the show isn’t what it used to be.
Barbara Walters created The View in 1997 with a simple idea: a few women from different backgrounds at one table, chatting about the day’s topics. Think the old Saturday Night Live “Coffee Talk” vibe, light, chatty, a little gossipy. News was in the mix, but so were celebrities, relationships, and everyday life.
Over the years, it leaned harder and harder into politics. Today it’s best known for heated political segments and big interviews with politicians. The New York Times once called it one of the most important political shows on TV. That’s a long way from where it started.
Here’s how charged things have gotten: even Whoopi Goldberg’s birthday cupcakes became a political story.
In late 2024, Goldberg said on the show that a Staten Island bakery refused her dessert order over her politics. The bakery owner fired back that it was a boiler problem, not politics, and held a press conference with local officials to defend herself.
A birthday cake turned into a national back-and-forth. When the cupcakes are controversial, the show is operating in a different world than the one Walters built.
And that shift is the whole reason the FCC fight exists. The “is this still news?” question only comes up because the show now regularly books politicians and talks politics. A lighter daytime chat show would never have landed on the FCC’s radar.
The fight over the local stations
The second fight is about those eight stations.
The FCC asked ABC to renew the broadcast licenses for its company-owned stations early, years ahead of schedule. The affected stations are in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, and Fresno. The agency tied the early review to a look at Disney’s diversity and inclusion policies.
ABC’s local ads play up hometown loyalty. The New York version notes that WABC has served the area for over 75 years, then warns the FCC is “questioning our commitment to the community.” Those comments are open until July 29.
Both sides came out swinging
This is the new part, and it’s why the story heated up this week.
ABC’s side: the network says both probes are really one effort to punish it for things the government doesn’t like, and that this threatens free speech. In a filing, ABC called the moves “unprecedented” and said they could “chill” protected speech. More than 100 former ABC News journalists signed a letter backing the network.
The FCC’s side: the agency says it’s just enforcing a law Congress passed, so candidates get equal access to the airwaves. And it hit back hard at the ad campaign itself, with a spokesperson calling it “a campaign of misinformation” that misleads viewers about the law. The FCC chairman posted online asking, “Is ‘The View’ bona fide news?”
So right now, both sides are making their case in public, loudly, at the same time.
Why this matters beyond one show
Here’s the part that reaches past The View.
Those same broadcast licenses are what ABC News and the local stations all run on. So a fight that looks like it’s about one talk show could touch the whole network, including the news you watch.
It’s also a rare thing to see at all: a major network using its own airwaves to ask viewers to push back on the government, while the government calls those ads misinformation. The comment windows are open now, which is what those QR codes are for. The outcome will shape how much say the government has over what’s on TV, and ABC is betting its viewers want a say too.
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Hat Tips:
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times, via CNN and NBC News (June 22, 2026), verified for the dual-campaign launch, the eight affected stations, the DEI-tied license review, and the equal-time probe
Deadline and The Daily Beast (June 22, 2026), verified for the Barbara Walters ad, the QR codes, the July 6 and July 29 comment deadlines, and the James Talarico appearance that triggered the View probe
NBC News and MS NOW (June 22, 2026), verified for the FCC spokesperson calling the campaign “a campaign of misinformation,” the chairman’s online comments, and the show’s 1997 launch
Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and NBC News (November 2024), verified for Whoopi Goldberg’s bakery claim, owner Jill Holtermann’s boiler-issue response, and the press conference defending the bakery