FYI: Cable network plans to test FCC rules for candidate equal time

The Lufkin Daily News
Monday, September 03, 2007

Q: I have a question and can't find anybody that knows the answer. Way back when Arnold Schwarzenegger was running for governor of California, I remember the Sci-Fi Channel and one or two other big networks refused to air any of his movies so that it wouldn't break the "equal time" rules by the FCC on giving political candidates equal time on television. What are they going to do about Fred Thompson, who says he's going to make a run for President — and his face is all over those Law & Order shows on TV, especially on TNT. I watch it all the time. What are they going to do about that?

A: A spokesperson for Turner Network Television (TNT) says the cable network has no plans to alter its programming schedule. However, NBC — the parent network for the Law & Order series of TV dramas — has said it stopped showing reruns that have Thompson in them as of the first of September.

The equal time rules were written by the Federal Communications Commission when cable was in its infancy, and they have never been clarified as to whether the rules apply only to regular network programming or if they apply also to cable TV.

Thompson, a former Republican legislator from Tennessee, portrays Arthur Branch, a gruff district attorney, in the long-running Law & Order series on NBC. TNT and other cable channels show the series in older reruns.

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