Nexstar and Sinclair Bring Back Kimmel Friday Night
Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast planned to cease preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! and air the show on their ABC affiliates Friday night, said news releases Friday afternoon. A source familiar with the situation told us that Disney made no editorial or content concessions prior to the announcements.
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“In our ongoing and constructive discussions with ABC, Sinclair proposed measures to strengthen accountability, viewer feedback, and community dialogue, including a network-wide independent ombudsman,” said the Sinclair release. “While ABC and Disney have not yet adopted these measures, and Sinclair respects their right to make those decisions under our network affiliate agreements, we believe such measures could strengthen trust and accountability.”
Nexstar's release -- issued a few hours after Sinclair's -- said the company had discussions with Disney executives and appreciated "their constructive approach to addressing our concerns."
"As a local broadcaster, Nexstar remains committed to protecting the First Amendment while producing and airing local and national news that is fact-based and unbiased," it said.
Both companies denied that Kimmel's preemption was the result of federal influence. Nexstar said its obligation and commitments "to be stewards of the public airwaves and to protect and reflect the specific sensibilities of our communities" were behind the decision, "independent of any external influence from government agencies or individuals." Sinclair also said their move “to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence.”
Nexstar is seeking FCC approval of its proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna and was the first company to announce it was taking Kimmel off the air, just hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested on a podcast last week that ABC and its affiliates do so or face consequences at the agency (see 2509240064). Sinclair has repeatedly said it's seeking merger opportunities and was rumored to also be attempting to buy Tegna.
“Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations. While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content,” Sinclair's release said. “Our objective throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience. We take seriously our responsibility as local broadcasters to provide programming that serves the interests of our communities, while also honoring our obligations to air national network programming.”
In a Fox News interview Thursday, Vice President JD Vance also disputed that federal pressure led to Nexstar, Sinclair and ABC pulling Kimmel’s show. “I think that Brendan Carr put out a couple of tweets or a couple of truths, or whatever he did. That does not constitute government coercion.” Though Carr did post on social media about the matter, that was largely after he said on The Benny Show podcast that there “was an easy way” or “a hard way” involving possible FCC consequences for companies over Kimmel’s comments about the killing of activist Charlie Kirk. Carr has said he was explaining the FCC’s news distortion policy rather than threatening ABC, but President Donald Trump issued his own threats to the network.
Vance said in Thursday’s interview that there should be a conversation about whether ABC, NBC and CBS serve the public interest. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., announced Friday that they will hold a livestreamed forum on Carr’s actions Monday that will include FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez.