NBC gave former President Donald Trump 90 seconds of free commercial time on Sunday following concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris’ cameo this weekend. Saturday Night Live It may have violated the FCC’s Equal Time Rule.

“NBC and Comcast reached out yesterday to give our campaign the opportunity to meet the equal time requirement,” a Trump campaign official told our sister site. Deadline. “President Trump shot direct-to-camera video following yesterday’s PA rally.”

More from TVLine

Trump-appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr flagged the situation X on Saturdayjust two hours ago ‘SNL’broadcast started.

“This is a clear and obvious effort to evade the FCC’s Equal Time rule,” he wrote. “The purpose of the rule is precisely to avoid this type of biased and partisan behavior – a licensed broadcaster using public broadcasting to exert influence over a candidate on the eve of an election. Unless the publisher offers Equal Time to other eligible campaigns.”

Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt responds and objects to Carr’s statement don’t write“I was the chairman of the FCC. Brendan Carr is wrong. He is clearly and blatantly trying to help Trump’s campaign. “This is also wrong.”

The Equal Time Rule requires broadcasters to provide comparable time to competing candidates, but news programs are exempt from this rule. FCC rules do not require a network to call opposing campaigns to offer time; rival candidates must demand this. Additionally, stations do not have to give the same time to competing candidates, but they must be comparable.

An NBC official said the network “met the Trump campaign’s request for equal time, consistent with our regulatory obligations.” Harris reportedly “appeared without charges.” SNL for one minute and 30 seconds; That’s the amount of time the network devoted to Trump during a NASCAR Playoff race and an NFL game.

Best of TVLine

Sign up TVLine Newsletter. Follow us for the latest news Facebook, excitementAnd instagram.