Posted on 09/22/2025 7:30:45 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
Low-rated "comedian" Jimmy Kimmel is headed back on the air after he was briefly suspended for lying about who murdered Charlie Kirk. As RedState reported, the late-night host will return on Tuesday night, marking a victory for the far-left elites who rallied to his defense.
So much for all the cries of "fascism," I suppose. Early on in this controversy, I opined that controversial comments from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr were not the reason for Kimmel's suspension. It seems I was right, given this reversal wouldn't have happened if ABC were truly terrified of the federal government taking action. Still, the press and the Democratic Party spent five days going nuts, claiming the Trump administration was destroying free speech because a private company benched a guy who is losing them millions of dollars a year.
If anything, Carr's comments were counterproductive in that they left ABC executives battling allegations that they were bending the knee to government coercion. That likely played more of a role in their decision to fold to Kimmel than anything. But while ABC's climb down may have soothed the cries of Hollywood elites, not everyone is ready to roll over.
Sinclair, which owns a large number of ABC affiliates, has announced it will preempt Kimmel's show while it continues to negotiate with ABC about the path forward.
Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return. pic.twitter.com/beGC6VID2x — Sinclair, Inc. (@WeAreSinclair) September 22, 2025
https://x.com/NEWSMAX/status/1970307132563300737?t=ooT121yd93Jl7bkdeqZAfw&s=19
Nexstar preempted Kimmel’s show indefinitely via a press release on 9/17/25. Since they haven’t released a reversal, the preemption presumably still stands.
So if Sinclair folds, we can do a drive by on their corporate offices, night? Apparently companies respond to intimidation tactics. 🤬
Float in like Wizard of Oz monkeys. That apparently works too.
I hope that their customers make some noise. It would be great to see his ratings drop further.
Though I do expect him to get a comeback bump that will be short lived.
Sinclair is making the right move. We have a Fox station from them, and since they don’t have a morning show, we get Sinclair’s Fox 45 Baltimore “The National News Desk”.
Sinclair also has its own news show, “Full Measure,” on their stations on weekends.
ABC had the opportunity to rid themselves of this money hemorrhaging turd once and for all and they chickened out.
On September 22, 2025, Disney announced that Kimmel’s suspension was being lifted, and the show would return beginning September 23.
At the time of the announcement, it was not known if Nexstar-owned ABC stations will resume broadcasting the show. Sinclair announced that they would pre-empt Kimmel’s September 23 episode on their ABC affiliates, but said “discussions with ABC are ongoing”
Nexstar: (972) 373-8800
Sinclair: (410) 568-1500
After Carr made his statement to Benny Johnson, Nexstar took that as a cue to put the hammer down.
Nexstar was looking to score points with Carr and Trump because they have a merger pending.
Iger did not make a business decision which was in the best interest of his company and stockholders.
He made the decision because he couldn’t stand the heat from the toxic Disney corporate culture nor the so-called big shot “talent”.
Nexstar and Sinclair said FU to Mickey Mouse.
And Mickey said FU back to the affiliates.
I’m not sure how the contracts read.
But the locals that are pre-empting will make more money without Kimmel.
And Disney was losing money on Kimmel with all the locals on board, so they’re going to lose a lot more.
Kimmel has a lot of friends with media platforms, but the numbers such ratings and profits are against him.
Disney is in effect going to lose millions for every week Kimmel does and accomplish nothing but bashing Trump.
Bad for business, bad for stockholders and bad for the brand.
But good for the revolution. The issue is never the issue, the issue is always the revolution.
With Kimmel’s contract set to expire in May 2026, the decision to have him return likely came down to some accountants crunching the numbers. They would likely need to pay out $X dollars for the remaining contract, plus their would be the cost for attorney fees which always seem to get jacked up.so with some ad revenue, they can minimize some of that loss.
Still a stupid idea to have him return. But sometimes, it’s just math.
Any station allowing itself to be cowed by threats doesn't deserve the public trust or a broadcast license.
In this area, the Charleston Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate WCIV-36 (Sinclair made a signal swap with WMMP in 2013 as part of its acquisition of Albritton in 2013) is now affected by both the Colbert and Kimmel stories in a 51-year time line.
WCIV, then an NBC station on Channel 4 in 1974, was involved in the Eastern Airlines 212 when anchorman Wayne Seal was killed. Steven Colbert’s father was on that flight. WCIV has never recovered from that crash. Since becoming an ABC affiliate in the Albritton Agreements during Realignment, this Kimmelgate puts them historically in both scandals.
The local affiliates can’t even sell local car dealer ads with Kimmel, so I had read.
Here’s where Disney could get the upper hand:
Streaming services and skinny bundles are not under the Cable Act of 1992 regarding retransmission consent fees. Disney can simply use DirecTV Stream, Dish Network’s skinny bundle, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube TV, Fubo, and other such services to block the alternative programming on the local station and air Jimmy Kimmel Live! in place of local programming.
Remember, in those services, no fee is paid to Nexstar or Sinclair. During the DirecTV Stream-Disney squabble last year, local non-O&O ABC affiliates were blocked even though on the CATV services they were available since the 1992 Cable Act is not in effect. So Disney’s next move is to block the alternative programming for Kimmel, which they can do on their streaming services.
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