Nexstar, Sinclair Won’t Air Kimmel’s Return

Nexstar Media Group, one of the largest owners of broadcast TV stations, said it would not air the return of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday.

The company joins Sinclair, which said Monday it didn’t plan to air the late night show, and instead would show other programming.

ABC parent Disney announced on Monday it would bring back “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after pausing the show indefinitely last week following comments by host Kimmel that linked the alleged killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.

Nexstar was among the first to respond to Kimmel’s comments.

“We made a decision last week to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse. We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve,” Nexstar said in a Tuesday statement.

“In the meantime, we note that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets,” the company said.

Nexstar and Sinclair are among the largest broadcast TV station owners in the U.S. The companies own and operate stations in local markets that are affiliated with major networks including ABC, Fox, NBC and CBS.

Nexstar owns roughly 30 stations affiliated with ABC in markets including Salt Lake City, Nashville and New Orleans. Sinclair owns and operates nearly 40 ABC affiliate stations.

Sinclair last week followed Nexstar in preempting Kimmel’s show. The station owner said late Monday it would still preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after ABC returned it to broadcast this week.

In a statement, Sinclair said discussions with ABC were “ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”

A Disney representative on Monday didn’t comment on the discussions with Sinclair and other affiliate station owners.

In its statement on Monday announcing Kimmel’s return, Disney said it “made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger and Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, made the decision to return Kimmel to air and alerted the comedian on Monday, CNBC reported. Local station owners learned on Monday when Disney made the public announcement that Kimmel would return, CNBC reported at the time.

FCC threats

While the stations offer local content, such as live news, they also air national programming affiliated with their network, including live sports, late night TV, national news shows, and primetime series. The station owners license spectrum from the government and the networks are free-to-air — meaning consumers can watch the networks for free with an antenna.

Following Kimmel’s comments last Monday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr suggested licenses were at risk of being revoked as stations and networks are required by law to operate in the “public interest.”

Carr said on CNBC last week that Kimmel’s comments appeared to “directly mislead the American public about...probably one of the most significant political events we’ve had in a long time.”

During Kimmel’s opening monologue last Monday, Kimmel said the “MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

“In between the finger-pointing there was grieving. On Friday the White House flew the flags at half-staff, which got some criticism, but on a human level you can see how hard the president is taking this,” he continued, teeing up a clip of Trump on the White House lawn in which the president fields a question on Kirk but swiftly pivots to talking about construction.

“On Kimmel, the Democrats are engaged in nothing more than Projection and Distortion,” Carr said in his post on Tuesday, adding, “Distortion because Democrats want to blame anything other than Disney and their local TV stations for Kimmel’s suspension. Those businesses decided that, in their view, a suspension made sense. The reporting on this is clear.”

“Notably, this is the first time recently that any local TV stations have pushed back on a national programmer like Disney. And that is a good thing because we want want empowered local TV stations. After all, local TV stations—not the national programmers—have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meets the needs of their local communities,” Carr posted.

Pressure has been mounting on media companies since Trump entered office for second term and Carr took his post as head of the FCC earlier this year. Public statements denouncing broadcasters, news outlets and specific programming have raised questions about the protection of free speech.

Trump has barred specific reporters and news organizations from pooled press events, and earlier this week the Pentagon issued further restrictions on journalists.

The Trump administration has also filed lawsuits against news outlets including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. ABC News settled a lawsuit last year in which the network agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a dispute with the president. Prior to its merger with Skydance Media, which officially closed in August, Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit with Trump.

Days after the settlement, the FCC granted Paramount and Skydance approval to merge after more than a year of delays. Stephen Colbert, last night host for Paramount Skydance-owned CBS, referred to the settlement as “a big fat bribe.” CBS later announced the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” citing financial reasons.

Nexstar is currently seeking FCC approval for its proposed $6.2 billion merger with fellow broadcast station owner Tegna. And while it has yet to ink a deal, Sinclair is also exploring merger options for its broadcast stations.

Disney, meanwhile, is seeking regulatory approval for a deal in which the NFL would acquire 10% of the company’s ESPN in exchange for NFL Media assets.