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Credit: Video Screenshot, 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!', ABCJimmy Kimmel is back nationwide. Earlier this afternoon, Sinclair Broadcasting announced that it had reached an agreement with Disney to return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to its airwaves, and now, just hours later, the last holdout, Nexstar, announced that it too had reached a deal to return Kimmel to its airwaves.
Nexstar made the announcement just hours before Kimmel’s show is set to air. With Nexstar putting Kimmel back on its station, his show will be back nationwide after his brief suspension.
Nexstar said in a statement: “We stand apart from cable television, monolithic streaming services, and national networks in our commitment – and obligation – to be stewards of the public airwaves and to protect and reflect the specific sensibilities of our communities. To be clear, our commitment to those principles has guided our decisions throughout this process, independent of any external influence from government agencies or individuals.”
Between them, Nexstar and Sinclair owned a quarter of the ABC affiliates in the country. Kimmel remained on in most major networks; however, Sinclair and Nexstar owned the ABC affiliates in Washington, D.C., Seattle, Nashville, and Portland, Oregon.
Kimmel’s issues started last week, when Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr told a podcast that broadcasters should “stop airing Kimmel’s show,” after his remarks about Kirk. Carr made a not-so-veiled threat to broadcasters, saying, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Moments after Carr made his remarks, Nexstar, the largest station group owner in the country, announced that it was pulling Kimmel from its ABC-affiliated networks. According to Rolling Stone, executives at Disney, ABC, and its affiliated stations gathered for a meeting after Nexstar’s decision, where many of the executives in attendance did not believe that Kimmel had said anything wrong.
Despite that, Disney caved to the pressure from Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcasting, the largest owner of ABC affiliates in the country, to pull Kimmel from the air. Sinclair said that it will not return Kimmel to its stations until “formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability,” and until Kimmel makes a direct apology to the Kirk Family, and for the network makes a significant donation to the family and Turning Point U.S.A.
Sinclair is restoring Kimmel to its affiliates after making proposals to Disney, including a “network-wide independent ombudsman” at ABC. Despite the proposals, Sinclair will restore Kimmel to its channels without ABC agreeing to them. It is unclear what, if anything, Nexstar got in exchange for returning Kimmel to the airwaves.
For now, Jimmy Kimmel is back nationwide.
What do you think of Jimmy Kimmel’s nationwide return? Let us know in the comments.