‘Law & Order’ entangled in FCC campaign rule

Now that actor-politician Fred Thompson is all politician and running for president, it doesn’t mean he’ll stop showing up as the steadfast New York district attorney on “Law &Order” repeats.

Thompson won’t be back in repeats on NBC, which will stop rerunning the more than 100 episodes from the past five seasons with Thompson playing DA Arthur Branch.

But cable network TNT says it’ll continue to air them as always.

The reason for the split: They have different regulatory requirements.

NBC is concerned that the Federal Communications Commission would require equal airtime for all of Thompson’s opponents, but the FCC doesn’t have the same powers over the cable world because cable is not part of the limited public airwaves.

So TNT can do what it pleases on this score, and since it paid for those episodes, and they’re also the most current, it’s going to run them.

As for Thompson, he’s not complaining. First off, the show is called “Law &Order,” and his character is tough, wise and fair-minded.

For him, that’s not a TV show, it’s a campaign ad.