“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Not Returning To Sinclair Owned ABC Channels

Last week, Sinclair, which is the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, announced that it had decided to indefinitely preempt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following recent comments made by Jimmy Kimmel concerning the assassination of Charlie Kirk, with Vice Chairman Jason Smith stating:

“Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country.  We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities. We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”

Sinclair wants Jimmy Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family.   They also want Jimmy Kimmel to make a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA.

The cable company owns 39 ABC-affiliated stations across the United States, including WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C.

Following the announcement, NexStar also announced that it would be doing the same. Disney paused production on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last Wednesday, but after talks, it was announced that the show will return later today.  This is because Sinclair doesn’t want the show to return unless they are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform.

However, while “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to ABC, it will not return to the Sinclair channels.  It also hasn’t been confirmed if the show will also be available on NexStar channels.   

While the return of the show is great news for fans of the show, for those in the Sinclair-covered areas, you’ll need to watch the new episodes on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ or catch clips on YouTube after new episodes air.

Sinclair put out a statement regarding the show not returning to their ABC-owned channels:

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.

Roger’s Take: Both Sinclair and NexStar are both trying to get through mega-corporate mergers, which require FCC approval, hence why they’ve sided with the FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, who has made comments about these companies needing to do this the easy way or the hard way.   So it makes sense that Sinclair is trying to find a way to get around this situation, without losing ground with its more conservative base and without annoying the FCC.  I suspect Sinclair will wait to see what happens in the next few days with the return of the show and if their customers continue to quit subscribing in protest. 

The future of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show has been in doubt for a while, as Jimmy’s contract is due to end in 2026, and talk show viewership in general has continued to decline year on year as more people leave cable.  Though the talk shows have found a different audience on social media, but without NexStar and Sinclair ABC channels, over a quarter of the ABC channels in the US may not be showing “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, which will impact on its advertising revenue, putting the show in even more doubt in the long run.

What do you think of Sinclair not bringing back the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show?  Let me know on social media!