Ripped From the Airwaves

In an interesting development, it turns out that if Law & Order star and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson does in fact run for president, NBC will have to pull any episodes of the popular procedural in which he appears. Unless they want to provide equal time to his opponents. A prospect, according to "The Washington Post", they are not about to consider.

For a looong time, the FCC has enforced the so-called equal time doctrine to ensure that for any free air time given to a candidate by a broadcaster, an equal amount be given to his or her opponent(s).

Most of the time I believe this usually involves debates, interviews, etc. (I don't think paid political ads count), but there is precedent involving a candidate whose airtime comes in the form of acting (professional as opposed to political):

During the 2003 gubernatorial race in California, television stations dropped all Arnold Schwarzenegger movies out of fear that showing them would require them to give countless hours of free airtime to all 134 other candidates for governor.

Stations also dropped "Bedtime for Bonzo" and other Ronald Reagan movies during his campaigns for governor of California and president.

NBC won't be hurting too much if they have to drop some reruns of L&O, they can always put a Fear Factor reunion in it's place. The article goes on to speculate however, on something far more intriguing:

The FCC rules have never been applied to cable channels, though several legal experts said cable often abides by an equal-time guideline in the hopes of avoiding a legal case that would set a precedent.

Thompson's situation could spark such a case...The TNT cable network shows several hours of "Law & Order" reruns every day and often holds all-day marathons. If that continues while Thompson is running for office, one of his rivals could seek to apply the equal-time rule to cable TV.

The part about setting a precedent is important. If such a situation did arise and the FCC were to step in to resolve the matter, it might give them a legal foothold to start holding cable networks to the same standards as over-the-air broadcasters on a much broader scale. That's slightly scary for a number of reasons I won't get into right now. Let's hope Mr. Thompson reconsiders his decision after he realizes it's easier to fight fictional crime than a real war.