We present the optical and magneto-optical characterization of La0.7(Sr,Ca)0.3MnO3 at temperatures 25K⩽⩽470K. The metal-insulator transition is accompanied by a magnetic-order induced spectral-weight redistribution within 0.5–5.5eV. Relating the kinetic energy of superexchange and double-exchange models to the optical spectral weight allows the distinction of Mn intersite from O2→Mn3 charge-transfer excitations. We infer that with decreasing temperature, the lower Hubbard band approaches the in-gap states by a reduction of the Jahn-Teller energy causing the metal-insulator transition. We estimate ≈0.8eV, >0.8eV, >2.9eV, and ⩽2.2eV.