NBC to give free air time to 4 Republican candidates

Sen. Lindsey Graham.
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

In compliance with FCC regulations regarding equal time for presidential candidates, four Republican contenders will receive 12 minutes of free advertising on NBC to compensate for the 12 minutes and 5 seconds that Donald Trump appeared on screen in the Nov. 7 episode of Saturday Night Live.

NBC spokeswoman Lauren Skowronski told CNN Money that the network reached out to five campaigns that filed requests for equal time, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, and Jim Gilmore will each receive 12 minutes of primetime ad time on 18 NBC affiliate stations in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire on Nov. 27 and 28, and during Saturday Night Live on Nov. 28. George Pataki had also requested equal time, but turned down the network's offer; his spokesman said the campaign will still discuss the matter with NBC and is "hopeful to reach a swift resolution."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.