Overview[]
Under the FCC's "equal time" rule, if a political candidate obtained time on a broadcast station, other candidates for the same office (or their appointed representatives) could obtain an "equal opportunity" on that station. An equal opportunity usually included equal time, but the term meant more than equal time. For example, it meant the right to obtain time in a period likely to attract approximately the same size audience as the period in which the opposing candidate appeared. News shows were exempt.