FCC Chair Brendan Carr Says He’s Investigating The View over ‘Serious Questions’ About Its News Value! QT

Brendan Carr; Hosts of ‘The View’.

Brendan Carr is shedding some light on the FCC’s ongoing “investigation” into The View.

The Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair said in a Tuesday, April 28 interview on The Katie Miller Podcast that the FCC has “raised serious questions” with the long-running ABC talk show.

Carr previously announced in February that the agency was exploring “an enforcement action” against the show after it welcomed James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, as a guest.

The View had reportedly been under investigation for potentially violating the FCC’s Equal Time Rule, a restriction that forced broadcasters to provide commensurate airtime to opposing candidates, if requested.

“They are asserting that The View is what the statute calls a ‘bona fide’ news program. And if you’re a bona fide news program under the law, you actually don’t have to comply with equal time requirements,” said Carr, 47. “They’re asserting that they’re bona fide news just like, I don’t know, Meet The Press used to be, or something like that. There’s obviously questions have been raised about whether they are, in fact, bona fide news.”

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He added, “We’ve asked them to file a petition at the FCC to try to get some clarification on that. And we’ll see where that goes… I think there’s a lot of questions have been raised.”

Back in February, Carr told reporters the FCC had been “taking a look” at The View over the Talarico interview, according to Deadline. The View had no comment when PEOPLE reached out on the FCC chairman’s comments at the time.

A network source told PEOPLE in February that the panel show regularly hosts sitting leaders and political candidates from across the political spectrum to discuss current events, which is consistent with how The View has operated for years.

In January, Carr shared a release to X in an attempt to remind both daytime and late-night TV programs of what he called an “obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities.” In response, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and others pointed to a decision from the FCC in 2006, when the agency decided the similarly formatted The Tonight Show was exempt from its “equal opportunity” language. Political candidates have since appeared on talk shows without political opponents getting equal airtime.

On Jan. 22, Kimmel called Carr “Brendan Cartel” and said the FCC was “reinterpreting long agreed-upon rules to stifle us.”

“It’s a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren’t his off air,” Kimmel claimed. “It’s his latest attack on free speech and it’s a joke because this isn’t the ’50s anymore. Back then there were only three major networks.”

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.