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On Sunday (November 3), NBC aired a political message from Donald Trump during NASCAR's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway and the Sunday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts, which appeared to be in response to a complaint by FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr.
Carr, a Republican appointed by Trump in 2017, suggested that an appearance by Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live was a violation of the "equal time" rule, which requires radio and television broadcast stations to provide the same amount of air time to competing political candidates. While news programs are exempt from the rule, entertainment shows, like Saturday Night Live, are not.
"This has all the appearances of, at least some leadership at NBC, at 'SNL,' making clear that they wanted to weigh in in favor of one candidate before the election. That's exactly why, for decades, we've had an equal time rule on the book, is to prevent that. Because remember, broadcasters are placed in a special position of trust. They're not just like any other person with a soapbox on the corner. They have a license from the federal government that obligates them to operate in the public interest," Carr told Fox News following Harris' appearance.
The first 60-second video message aired following NBC's coverage of the Xfinity 500, while the second was played following the conclusion of the Colts-Vikings game.
In an "equal time" filing with the FCC, NBC admitted that Harris received one minute and 30 seconds of airtime "without charge" during her brief appearance on SNL. According to a report by the Hollywood Reporter, the two spots were aired free of charge, giving Trump about one minute and twenty seconds of free air time, which should cover the equal time requirements.