NBC affiliates report Donald Trump appeared for on SNL 12 minutes, 5 seconds for equal time purposes

Last week, anticipating Donald Trump's appearance on Saturday Night Live, Babette Boliek and I wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal calling for an end to the equal time doctrine. Today, the NBC affiliates have begun filing their notices to comply with equal time. They are reporting that Trump appeared for 12 minutes, 5 seconds. Variety reflected that it appears Mr. Trump received so little airtime (relative to a typical host of the show) because of worries about the equal time doctrine and triggering free airtime for other candidates--precisely a worry Professor Boliek and I address in our piece.