Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show is returning to ABC on Tuesday night after a tense standoff from remarks he made about the Trump administration’s response to the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. But about a quarter of the ABC stations in the United States won’t be airing it.
Nexstar, a major owner of local ABC stations, said on Tuesday morning that it would pre-empt Mr. Kimmel’s show indefinitely. Sinclair, another owner of local affiliates, said the same on Monday evening, hours after Disney announced “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return, saying it would replace the show with news programming, pending further “discussions with ABC.”
Those decisions set up a high-stakes impasse between Disney and the TV station groups that transmit its shows to millions of households across the United States. The stations owned by Nexstar and Sinclair represent a meaningful source of ad revenue for Mr. Kimmel’s show. But pre-empting it indefinitely could lead to backlash for both Sinclair and Nexstar, especially from viewers who enjoy “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The firestorm began after Mr. Kimmel said on his show last week that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying” to characterize the suspect in Mr. Kirk’s killing, Tyler Robinson, as “anything other than one of them.” It escalated when Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said during an interview that Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were part of a “concerted effort to lie to the American people,” adding that the agency was “going to have remedies that we can look at.”
The fallout from Mr. Kimmel’s remarks engulfed the normally sleepy world of TV affiliates in a thorny debate over the First Amendment. The National Association of Broadcasters, a trade association representing TV groups, released a conciliatory statement this week that simultaneously defended the editorial freedom of TV stations while pushing back against “veiled threats” of government interference.
For Nexstar, the favor of the Trump administration is particularly crucial. The company is trying to close a $6.2 billion merger with another TV station owner, Tegna, which requires the F.C.C.’s approval. Nexstar has said that it did not run its decision to pre-empt Mr. Kimmel’s show by the F.C.C.
Unlike Nexstar and Sinclair, most local TV groups have raised no objections to Mr. Kimmel’s show. Gray and Hearst, also large owners of ABC affiliate stations, are planning to run “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday night as scheduled.
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.
Benjamin Mullin reports for The Times on the major companies behind news and entertainment. Contact him securely on Signal at +1 530-961-3223 or at [email protected].
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