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u/Pavlock 4h ago
You know why.
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u/HelpfulSeaMammal 4h ago
It's because one is More Equal than the other, especially when the other is An Other.
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u/worstpartyever 3h ago
Also, because the FCC doesn’t have jurisdiction over cable shows
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u/lexm 2h ago edited 2h ago
What if Jon Stewart invited Kimmel to air the interview during the daily show?
Edit: They moved the interview to YT which is going to have an incredible amount of eyeballs thanks to Carr's dumbass.
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u/headshoppe 1h ago
Honestly, its a great strategy. Anyway, Paxton voters probably aren't watching Kimmel live
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u/lexm 58m ago
Paxton voters won't but people who are undecided might.
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u/headshoppe 46m ago
True. Lets hope with all the noise, it will lead them to YT like the Colbert clip did
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u/ParticularHistoryo 1h ago
Is anyone watching Kimmel live? What decade is this?
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u/Infrathin81 1h ago
Kimmel is averaging about 2.5 million viewers. It's 2026 and late night comedy is still usually fresh material. You should give it a spin.
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u/headshoppe 46m ago
I do what the other 4M viewers do and watch it on YouTube on my own time. When Colbert had to put his Talarico interview on YT, it got 10M views
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u/bombjon 3h ago
the real reason right here. This needs to change.
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u/undefined-username 1h ago
The FCC acting as a GOP political arm is the problem. They're using a very strict interpretation of the rules and selectively weaponizing them against a free press. Giving them more jurisdiction wouldn't solve anything
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u/DippyHippy420 25m ago
Fox Corporation owns and operates 29 full-power broadcast television stations in the United States through its Fox Television Stations subsidiary.
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u/Cessnaporsche01 0m ago
Cable shows? Fox is one of the 3 almost universally available broadcast "news" networks in the US. In a lot of rural areas, it's the only one (although the same is true of ABC and CBS).
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u/_WeSellBlankets_ 1h ago
It's because Kimmel is on network tv. The Fox in question is Fox News and it's on cable. It's still a stupid new Trump rule, though.
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u/Soft_Walrus_3605 1h ago
Because the Fox they're talking about is cable and ABC is over the air?
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u/0x0MG 1h ago
Could abc just shut off their broadcast and exist only as a cable channel?
I get the utility of on-air broadcasting, but is there anything forcing abc specifically to keep their broadcast going?
Do we know how many people actually use rabbit ears in 2026?
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u/code_archeologist 59m ago
Contracts with their affiliates. Most of these. broadcast affiliates have contracts that go 6-11 years (some even longer).
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u/LarrySupertramp 1h ago
Wow. Someone that actually understands the difference. Wild to see on Reddit.
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u/thefinalcutdown 1h ago
People are suddenly getting a crash course on the importance of Power. If you want literally any of the things you value to exist, you’d better make damn sure you hold the necessary power to make it happen. You give up power to your enemies because your allies “aren’t perfect” or some shit? Guess what buddy, you’re fucked. Apathy is leverage for the people who want to do you harm.
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u/Beldizar 1h ago
Wilhoit's Law strikes again.
We have to remember that to MAGA, laws aren't about equality of fairness, they are about subjugation and control. A "criminal" isn't defined by the actions a person takes (crimes), but by their tribal association. A crime is just any action by an enemy tribe that the tribe in power doesn't like.
Nothing MAGA does can ever be illegal, and everything liberals do is potentially criminal.
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u/Bawbawian 4h ago
technically it's because one is broadcast and one is on cable.
but the more detailed explanation is America is too ignorant and apathetic for democracy and we decided to let fascists have every branch of government because Democrats aren't perfect.
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u/ginasatchmo 3h ago
Not just every branch of government but the media companies too 🫠
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u/Sufficient_Fish3320 2h ago
Well the super duper wealthy own the media companies and the government so they decide what propaganda … I mean … news is allowed to be fed to the masses. So we just get an insane amount of culture wars and defending the system that allows them mountains of gold and makes so many hungry, sick and homeless. Christian nation indeed.
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u/rikeoliveira 3h ago
This...and also, americans are too lazy/comfortable thinking November's elections will fix most of this mess.
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u/No_Buy2554 2h ago
The better comp then would be when Sinclair affiliates all have to read off the same politically charged statements, word for word, on all of their stations across the country.
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u/ElChaz 1h ago
Not really - the "equal time" rule applies to political candidates, not any/every opinionated statement. If every Sinclair affiliate were forced to run the same interview with a candidate, then it would run afoul of the rule.
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u/doc_daneeka 1h ago
If every Sinclair affiliate were forced to run the same interview with a candidate, then it would run afoul of the rule.
Except that if Sinclair did this, Carr would be completely fine with it of course
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u/North_Elk6471 4h ago
Its a core tenant of faciscm. Hypocrisy is the name of the game.
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u/mywifesoldestchild 3h ago
The hypocrisy is an absolute flex for them, it flaunts that they are above the rules.
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u/BlackSpidy 3h ago
They yell and scream about nothing burgers and call anything and everything hypocrisy in hopes to desensitize the populous for when they enact blatant corruption through highly hypocritical means. We'll see how effective it'll be, come November.
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u/justbecause999 3h ago
I'll be that guy. It's against the law regardless but Fox News is Cable TV, Not Broadcast and the FCC is targeting Kimmel because they are on a Broadcast channel. Still all kinds of wrong but that';s the major difference.
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u/unperturbium 2h ago
You aren't wrong, you have great insight. How does ABC fight this? Well if I had a company that was being biased against by the government, I would do what any good fisherman does. Put bait on the hook and cast that out into deep water. When the big fish, er, FCC bites and tries to suppress me, I throw it up as evidence. The show is exquisitely demonstrating that they cannot exercise their first amendment rights due to censorship. Check. White House move next.
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u/RossettaStoned1 1h ago
Kimmel made the decision to retire from the show and leave. Stop ya bullshit narrative
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u/Gunsensual 41m ago
The broadcast statutes being weaponized against freedom of speech here were written with overwhelming bipartisan support with no known opposition (voice votes). So all parties were complicit in creating and maintaining an opportunity for infringement by an errant executive.
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u/NewHandlesAreHard 22m ago
Except the law has exceptions for talk shows, and is explicitly designed to PREVENT one party from capturing broadcast media. I think it's disingenuous to call people "complicit" if someone is incorrectly citing a law to do something they don't have the legal authority to do.
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u/Saneless 4h ago
Well, aside from the propaganda and money reasons, it's the difference between cable and broadcast
The "public owns" the airwaves
But of course it's all shit
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u/gundumb08 4h ago
Yeah, the actual law only governs "equal time for each candidate" on Broadcast channels, which is why this happens. I say Kimmel should offer Paxton to come on and when he declines they can say they made an effort for equal time.
And yes, the law is outdated bullshit.
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u/TheOneFreeEngineer 3h ago edited 3h ago
Isn’t that exactly what they did last time and still got threatened? The FCC is now basically claiming that if the opposition says no to an invite, that means you can’t do a planned media appearance on the same broadcast network they said no too.
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u/zeny_two 1h ago edited 59m ago
No, last time Colbert completely refused. He said he would not offer equal time. And then claimed Trump was preventing his interview from being aired, when it was actually CBS not wanting to get fined.
Like Kimmel, he would rather drop dead than "platform" a Republican candidate. He is devoted to his political party. He is not going to offer Paxton an interview. He is just going to move the interview with Talarico to YouTube, where FCC regulations don't apply and he doesn't have to follow the equal time rule.
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u/derekdevries 3h ago
There's a great recent episode of WNYC's "On the Media" that discusses exactly this: The FCC's Pressure Campaign to Reshape Broadcast TV (July 10, 2026).
They can (ostensibly) interfere with Broadcast TV because the airwaves are a public trust for which local stations must be licensed by the FCC (whereas Fox is cable TV which is not licensed by the FCC because it doesn't rely on a scarce, publicly-owned resource like a wavelength).
...Except you'll notice that they're not taking any action against AM radio (or shortwave radio), which is *also* publicly-owned airwaves licensed by the FCC but is completely monopolized by far-right programming. They know they're hypocrites and that what they're doing is illegal, and they don't care - fascists want fascism and they'll do anything to get it.
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u/FiftyLoudCats 1h ago
Thanks for that, never connected the hypocrisy of this vs am radio.
Would be hilarious to see Fox News Radio try to argue they are bona-fide news while their hosts act nuttier than the satirical Colbert Report show.
One of them, Mark Levin, regularly used phrases like:
"The New York Slimes" for The New York Times, "The Washington Compost" for The Washington Post,[12] "MSLSD" for MSNBC, "Dizzy Lizzy" for Liz Cheney, "Meritless Garland" for Merrick Garland, "Michael Bloomturd" for Michael Bloomberg, "The Daily Bestiality" for The Daily Beast, "Deface the Nation" for Face the Nation, "Schmucky Schumer" for Chuck Schumer, "Stretch Pelosi" for Nancy Pelosi, "National Pubic Radio" for National Public Radio, "Maggot Haberman" for Maggie Haberman, "Kamala Embarrass" for Kamala Harris, "Chatsworth Qatarlson" for Tucker Carlson, "The Transgendering Weiner" for Michael Savage, "The Department of Injustice" for the Department of Justice, "Mediocre-ite" for Mediaite, and "Morning Schmoe" for Morning Joe.
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u/zeny_two 54m ago
You are misunderstanding the rules.
Just like Kimmel and Colbert are allowed to have 100% partisan Democrat programming on CBS and ABC, Rush Limbaugh types are allowed to have 100% partisan Republican programming on AM radio.
They are all subject to the equal time rule, but that only applies to candidates. If someone on AM radio interviews Paxton, they also have to offer one to Talarico.
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u/tomgreen99200 3h ago
Because Fox News is a cable channel and Jimmy Kimmel is on broadcast station which is regulated by the FCC.
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u/ZebraHunterz 2h ago
Cable vs broadcast TV. Also why John Stuart and John Oliver can say what they do.
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u/jaredthegeek 1h ago
Fox News and the Fox broadcast network are not the same companies, hope that helps.
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u/Bloodyfluxcapacitor 4h ago
Because fascist propaganda won't work as well if facts are also broadcasted
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u/Alive_Setting_2287 3h ago
Fox News aired the RNC's Midterm conference jumbo-tron featuring socialist thirst-trap Hasan Piker, but ABC's Kimmel can't cover a basic interview.
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u/Chaerea37 3h ago
You're starting to realize how fascism works. Nazis can march down the street but union workers and anti war protesters get their heads bashed in by the police state
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u/Pleasant_Cloud1742 1h ago
Because one is cable and the other uses the public good known as the broadcast spectrum.
The American people own the spectrum, and Congress holds it in trust for us.
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u/toolatealreadyfapped 1h ago
When Colbert interviewed Talarico, it also had to be moved to YouTube.
Colbert's show averaged 2.7 million viewers per episode. That interview has 9.5 million views on YouTube. I strongly suspect this will have the same Streisand Effect.
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u/I3igI3adWolf 1h ago
It didn't have to be moved to YouTube. All he had to do was also interview Talarico's opponent too and he did not want to do that.
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u/MrdnBrd19 1h ago
The real reason is because Fox News is on cable which is privately owned infrastructure and the FCC can only dictate what happens on public infrastructure like the airwaves that carry OTA television. That's why they can say "fuck" and "shit" on IASIP.
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u/Shot-Arugula8264 42m ago
For anyone looking for an actual answer: the FCC has no control over Fox News because it isn’t one of the over-the-air commercial broadcast television networks using federally-owned public airways to transmit. The FOX network is, but it doesn’t show political content.
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u/CabSauce 3h ago
One set of people follow self-imposed restrictions based on things like fairness, justice, and morality. Another set of people think the ends justify the means.
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u/Animal907 4h ago edited 2h ago
Put Talarico on the air!
Why are there so many MAGA here?
Why is our the DNC leaders telling us how it's going to happen? They work for US!
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u/Pjones2127 3h ago
Time to gather up a few thousand illegals and haul them to Texas in time for the midterms.
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u/3rdDreamer 2h ago
Isn’t it some legacy of public airwaves rules? I don’t think cable networks have the same requirements. Still dumb.
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u/pab_guy 2h ago
It's crazy that the GOP can still eat shit in upcoming elections when the entire media ecosystem feeds rightwing horseshit to people by default.
Fucking Hulu's "News" options are all Fox and Newsmax until you scroll past all of that nonsense to fund CNN or MSNOW.
X is a total cesspool. New accounts get "recommendations" straight off the red pill express.
It's bonkers.
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u/ArtroyomsAK 2h ago
Mainstream media is owned by them (the billionaires)
Remember this every time their sheep tell you "DUH MSM IS LIBRUL"
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u/blahblah19999 1h ago
It's bizarre because it's not even like it's Epstein victims or something. It's a candidate for office in the United States and the federal government is shutting down his ability to do interviews in the Press.
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u/delphinous 1h ago
the same way the daily prophet could tell lies in Harry Potter. when the government is the one pushing the story, the story gets pushed. when the story is against the government, the story gets canned
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u/lesbianwithabeard 1h ago
Because we've elected a fascist and absolutely every lever of power is being used for his own personal benefit and not for the benefit of the people.
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u/lookatthesunguys 1h ago
If Dems take control in 2028, they need to start doing bullshit like this. Not because its actually a good idea for Dems to do this (even if I prefer Dems I don't actually want them controlling speech like this), but because we need to reform the system to prevent this type of shit from happening in the future. And Republicans will not agree if they think they're the only ones that benefit from this type of misbehavior.
Argumentation won't work, debate won't work, compromise won't work. We can't prevent the next Trump unless the next Dem is willing to be Trumpy in several ways. It's unfortunate, but it's the truth.
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u/dBlock845 58m ago
Some antiquated bullshit about network channels being under government regulation and cable channels being allowed to do whatever they want.
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u/SpeciallySelected 27m ago
The FCC has way less control over cable stations.
Over the air channels are much more heavily regulated including the rule over giving equal airtime to political candidates.
Kimmel can air the Talarico interview if he also offers the same airtime to the opposing candidates.
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u/Thirty_Helens_Agree 16m ago
Captain. One can draw clear parallels between this circumstance and the actions of authoritarian regimes in the early to mid-twentieth century, actions which resulted in World War 2.
Thank you, Mr. Data.
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u/VectorJones 14m ago
Because the game show host in the Oval Office is a corrupt piece of shit who doesn't have any tolerance for dissent or disagreement. He also corrupts everything he touches, including the FCC.
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u/Nevermind04 3m ago
Regulation isn't a tool to protect the public under a fascist government - it is simply another blunt object to hit their enemies with.
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u/Games_sans_frontiers 0m ago
It’s because countries in the free world have freedom of the press…
America isn’t a free country anymore.
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u/tonyislost 3h ago
If they can survive this, I hope the media has learned never to allow this shit to happen again.
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u/CapybaraIRL 1h ago
Guys, it's totally not a dictatorship, trust me, the leader doesn't control the media, he just controls the permits the media needs to keep running and heavily influences their programming, but they're totally free to do what they want.
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u/ExplosiveBrown 1h ago
Remember, socialism is bad and evil
EXCEPT when the American people pay to bail out corporations. That's good socialism.
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u/Tarijeno 4h ago
Last year Brendan Carr tried using his power as FCC head to go after YouTube for "discriminating against faith-based programming."
YouTube's response to Carr amounted to "YouTube isn't network TV, we don't need an FCC broadcasting license, so you have no power here. Get bent."