{"id":257080,"date":"2025-09-26T21:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/257080\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T21:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:47:10","slug":"nexstar-and-sinclair-bring-jimmy-kimmels-show-back-to-its-local-tv-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/257080\/","title":{"rendered":"Nexstar and Sinclair bring Jimmy Kimmel’s show back to its local TV stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Nexstar Media Group<\/a> joined Sinclair Broadcast Group<\/a> in bringing Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night talk show<\/a> back to its local TV stations on Friday night, ending a dayslong TV blackout for dozens of cities across the U.S. <\/p>\n

The companies suspended the program<\/a> over remarks the comedian made in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing<\/a>. The move means \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d will return to local TV on Nexstar\u2019s ABC affiliates in 28 cities, along with the 38 stations where Sinclair agreed to restore the show.<\/p>\n

The show will also return to Sinclair\u2019s local TV markets from Seattle to Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n

Disney-owned ABC suspended Kimmel on Sept. 17, following threats of potential repercussions from the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission. Sinclair also condemned the host \u2014 confirming that it would stop airing the show the same day.<\/p>\n

The Maryland-based broadcast giant, which is known for conservative political content<\/a>, called on Kimmel at the time to apologize to Kirk\u2019s family \u2014 and taking it a step further, asked him to \u201cmake a meaningful personal donation\u201d to Turning Point USA, the nonprofit that Kirk founded.<\/p>\n

On the day Kirk was killed, Kimmel shared a message of support for Kirk\u2019s family and other victims of gun violence on social media, which he reiterated during his Tuesday return to ABC. He had also called the conservative activist\u2019s assassination a \u201csenseless murder\u201d prior to being taken off air. <\/p>\n

Kimmel\u2019s original comments didn\u2019t otherwise focus on Kirk. He instead lambasted President Donald Trump and his administration\u2019s response to the killing. The comedian did not apologize on Tuesday<\/a>, but did say \u201cit was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man\u201d and acknowledged that to some, his comments \u201cfelt either ill-timed or unclear or maybe both.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also used a blend of humor and pointed messages to emphasize the importance of free speech.<\/p>\n

Even after Disney brought Kimmel back to its national airways, both Sinclair and Nexstar continued to preempt the show.<\/a><\/p>\n

New episodes of the show air Monday through Thursday. Friday night\u2019s rerun will be of Tuesday\u2019s show \u2014 so viewers of Sinclair stations can see Kimmel\u2019s emotional return to the air.<\/p>\n

In its statement Friday, Sinclair pointed to its \u201cresponsibility as local broadcasters to provide programming that serves the interests of our communities, while also honoring our obligations to air national network programming.\u201d <\/p>\n

The company, which operates 38 ABC-affiliated stations<\/a>, added that it had received \u201cthoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives,\u201d and noticed \u201ctroubling acts of violence,\u201d referencing the shooting into the lobby of a Sacramento station<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese events underscore why responsible broadcasting matters and why respectful dialogue between differing voices remains so important,\u201d Sinclair added.<\/p>\n

As a result of Sinclair and Nexstar\u2019s boycott, viewers in cities representing roughly a quarter of ABC\u2019s local TV affiliates had been left without the late-night program on local TV. The blackouts escalated nationwide uproar around First Amendment protections \u2014 particularly as the Trump administration and other conservatives police speech after Kirk\u2019s killing<\/a>. They also cast a spotlight on political influence in the media landscape, with critics lambasting companies that they accuse of censoring content.<\/p>\n

Ahead of his suspension, Kimmel took aim at the president and his \u201cMAGA gang\u201d of supporters for their response to Kirk\u2019s killing, which Kimmel said included \u201cfinger-pointing\u201d and attempts to characterize the alleged shooter as \u201canything other than one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

These remarks angered many supporters of Kirk \u2014 as well as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who accused Kimmel of appearing to \u201cdirectly mislead the American public\u201d with his remarks about the man accused of the killing. Ahead of Kimmel\u2019s suspension, Carr warned that Disney and ABC\u2019s local affiliates could face repercussions if the comedian was not punished. <\/p>\n

He later applauded Sinclair, as well as Nexstar, for their decisions to preempt the show.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 17, Sinclair Vice Chairman Jason Smith called<\/a> Kimmel\u2019s comments \u201cinappropriate and deeply insensitive\u201d and said that ABC\u2019s suspension wasn\u2019t enough. Smith added that Sinclair appreciated Carr\u2019s comments \u2014 and called for \u201cimmediate regulatory action\u201d from the FCC \u201cto address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, in Friday\u2019s announcement, Sinclair maintained that its decision to preempt Kimmel\u2019s show was \u201cindependent of any government interaction or influence,\u201d Sinclair\u2019s statement Friday read, adding that broadcasters had the right to exercise their own judgment.<\/p>\n

While local TV affiliates broadcast their own programming, such as local news, they also contract with larger national broadcasters \u2014 and pay them to air their national content, splitting advertising revenue and fees from cable companies.<\/p>\n

Sinclair said \u201cconstructive\u201d discussions with ABC were ongoing, and said its proposals to the network to strengthen accountability, feedback and dialogue and appoint an ombudsman had not yet been adopted. <\/p>\n

Representatives for ABC declined to comment on Friday.<\/p>\n

Matthew Dolgin, senior equity analyst at research firm Morningstar, said he wasn\u2019t surprised by Sinclair\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship with Disney is far too important for these firms to risk,\u201d Dolgin said. And setting aside legal rights from either side, he added, \u201cDisney would\u2019ve been free to take its affiliate agreements elsewhere in 2026 if these relationships were too difficult. That scenario would be devastating to Nexstar and Sinclair.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles and AP Business Writer Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Nexstar Media Group joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in bringing Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late-night talk show…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":257081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[3881,119587,51396,64,19719,1226,69,171,18320,57,83162,11171,564,135227,8006,7053,399,358,173,5028,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-257080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-assassination-of-charlie-kirk","10":"tag-brendan-carr","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-charlie-kirk","13":"tag-conservatism","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-federal-communications-commission","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-jason-smith","19":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","20":"tag-maryland","21":"tag-matthew-dolgin","22":"tag-md-state-wire","23":"tag-power-outages","24":"tag-television","25":"tag-texas","26":"tag-tv","27":"tag-tx-state-wire","28":"tag-u-s-news","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115272800575821319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}