For years, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has called for a shift in power from the New York and Hollywood elites who run the television networks back to the local broadcast stations that serve each individual community. Jimmy Kimmel’s week-long absence from the airwaves is a vindication of that vision as local stations reclaimed their rightful place as gatekeepers over network programming.

The decision by numerous ABC affiliates to refuse to air Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the late-night host’s callous and intentionally inaccurate monologue on the assassination of Charlie Kirk reflected the views and values of many of their viewers and may lead to greater balance in television programming moving forward.

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OVER HALF OF LIBERALS CALL KIRK ASSASSINATION ‘UNDERSTANDABLE’

That’s doubly so after Disney made a pathetic non-apology in its announcement that Kimmel would return to the air and the two main affiliate groups responded by declining to cooperate. 

Nexstar Communications, which owns 32 ABC affiliates in markets nationwide, released a statement during the initial outrage saying, “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time.” Sinclair Broadcasting, which operates 30 ABC stations, said on X that it would preempt Kimmel’s show “due to problematic comments regarding the murder of Charlie Kirk in programming provided to broadcast stations by ABC.” 

A week later they issued similar statements refusing to follow along with Disney’s decision to reinstate Kimmel. Nexstar, for instance, said it would not return Kimmel until it received “assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.” That explanation makes clear this is a situation that Kimmel and Disney brought upon themselves: Things would be different if they would just show some remorse and respect for the millions of Americans who think Charlie Kirk’s murder is no laughing matter.

This courageous stand by Nexstar and Sinclair is the perfect manifestation of Chairman Carr’s goal to “empower local broadcasters” to make programming decisions. It is the local stations that are actually licensed by the FCC — they are the ones who owe an obligation to their regulator and the viewing public to ensure that programming content is compliant with FCC rules and their local communities’ interests and needs. 

The FCC can take another step toward empowering local broadcasters by repealing the current regulatory cap on station ownership. Existing FCC rules artificially restrict the number of local stations that a company like Nexstar or Sinclair can own.

Beyond interfering with the free market, those rules limit the leverage that station ownership groups can exercise vis-à-vis the networks. When the local stations are isolated from one another and dependent on the networks for programming, they cannot effectively push back when the network’s programming is low quality, offensive, or out of step with their local communities’ views and values. A station ownership group with critical mass, however, can effectively force change on a network, as we saw in this instance. 

Similarly, a large alliance of stations can collaborate to create or contract for their own alternative programming separate from the networks. Sinclair, for instance, sponsors a news program called The National Desk that made an hour-long special on its YouTube channel in remembrance of Charlie Kirk. An individual station in a small market may not have the economic resources to produce additional independent programming, but a station group can pull it off.

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The FCC is scheduled to take up this question of the ownership cap at its Sept. 30 open meeting, which builds upon a recent round of public comment on this topic. The commission should move to reform or repeal the cap to open up market forces to move freely in the broadcast space.

Allowing that kind of capitalism has the added benefit of moving power out of New York and Hollywood and away from the liberal-dominated networks and towards local stations rooted in their communities. We will see more assertions of independence from Nexstar, Sinclair, and other local broadcasters when they achieve the critical mass needed to stand up for themselves and their viewers.

Daniel Suhr is president of the Center for American Rights.