It's Texas TV station KTVT, the CBS-owned station serving the Dallas area, which has seen a surge in spending from candidates James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett.
with Stephen Colbert and the Federal Communications Commission has put the spotlight on the network and the regulator over questions of censorship and political pressure. But amid the back and forth between the late night host, the FCC and the network, CBS itself is quietly emerging as a winner in the high-stakes U.
S. Senate race that has captured public attention, capturing hundreds of thousands of dollars in February alone from Democratic hopefuls James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett, as well as Republicans John Cornyn, Ken Paxton and Wesley Hunt."I Really Don't Want An Adversarial Relationship With the Network": Exasperated Colbert Reveals Tensions With CBS' Legal Team CBS owns KTVT, the station that serves the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex, and a review of its political files underscores how the battle for the Senate is running through broadcast TV, and the distinct strategies that each campaign is pursuing. In February alone, Talarico committed $169,350 in ad spending on the Dallas CBS station, with early primetime access, local news and the daytime game showCrockett, meanwhile, has spent more of her campaign dollars on digital advertising, but still committed $52,700 on the CBS station in February, with daytime soapshas a rate of $200 on the station, the files show, making it the cheapest show that Crockett bought time on , and Colbert responded in turn the following night,for the candidate and the show, with the interview garnering tens of millions of views on YouTube and other platforms, and raising millions of dollars for his campaign.that he was amused by the incident, while also reiterating that he believes that talk shows aren’t bona fide news, and that the Commission will pursue enforcement actions against shows that host candidates without offering equal time or applying for an exemption. “Congress passed the equal time provision for a very specific reason,” he said. “They did not want the media leads in Hollywood and in New York to put their thumbs on the scale and pick their winners and losers in primaries and general elections. That’s the point.”Plus Icon The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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