ABC-affiliate powerhouses Sinclair Broadcasting and Nexstar Media Group will not broadcast the return of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" to late-night programming.
Nexstar owns roughly 30 stations affiliated with ABC, including several stations in deep-red states. Sinclair owns and operates nearly 40 ABC affiliate stations. Together, they control about 20% of ABC affiliates nationwide.
“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.
In addition to losing the audience, Kimmel will lose his cut of advertising revenue from the local affiliates, which is a significant hit for the comic.
Sinclair said discussions with ABC were “ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”
The Walt Disney Company owns ABC. Disney released a weasel statement about the controversy.
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.
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.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr pointed out that it was the local affiliates that decided to stop broadcasting Kimmel.
Disney is quietly trying to douse the flames.
Network contracts with TV station groups typically carry a “right to reject” clause that gives local affiliates permission to pre-empt programs that they believe are contrary to the public interest or unsatisfactory to their audiences. But there is little precedent for a group boycotting a program for a sustained period. The “right to reject” provision was invoked in 2006 when a Mormon-owned TV station in Utah balked at the prospect of carrying a special with Madonna that they feared would show the pop star hanging on a mirrored cross.
Disney may have some means to push back on local TV station groups that refuse to air its programming for a protracted period. If Sinclair and Nexstar continue to balk at airing Disney’s programming, the company can move its shows to another TV station owner when its contract with the dissenting group expires.
The point of suspending Kimmel's show was not "free speech." It was his ludicrous attempt to blame conservatives for the murder. It was deliberate misinformation, which Carr was looking at when he threatened to pull the broadcast license.
It will be interesting to see if he retracts that outrageous slander tonight.
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