Here’s the real reason ABC suspended ‘Jimmy Kimmel – Business News
Jimmy Kimmel’s feedback on the homicide of conservative activist Charlie Kirk weren’t simply noxiously offensive and seemingly deceptive — their timing was additionally extremely dangerous: They threaten to derail Nexstar’s $6.2 billion takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna, telecom insiders inform On The Money.
The already controversial deal — which would mix two of the nation’s largest house owners of native TV stations — poses vital antitrust questions and wishes a close review by the Federal Communications Commission and its conservative firebrand chairman, Brendan Carr.
Kimmel’s feedback made that approval even dicier. That’s why Nexstar publicly introduced Thursday that its stations would no longer carry the show, telecom insiders inform On The Money. Ditto for ABC mum or dad Disney, which produces and distributes “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to broadcasters like Nexstar — and is likewise looking for FCC approval for a huge NFL deal for ESPN.
Disney CEO Bob Iger greets reporters in Sun Valley, Idaho, in July. Getty Images
Bob Iger, the CEO of its mum or dad, Disney, was additionally fast to droop the show indefinitely.
On Thursday, Sinclair Broadcasting — a rival native TV giant with a conservative bent — upped the ante even additional, saying ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel was inadequate and asserting it’s going to yank “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its stations till the host apologizes on to Kirk’s household and donates to his political activist group.
The backdrop to all that is Carr, a longtime telecom lawyer who’s the new sheriff of the broadcast industry. Carr has been warning networks massive and small that he’s taking one of the most expansionary views of the company’s regulatory edict to make sure programming is in the “public interest,” First Amendment issues be damned.
His impression has been nothing short of dramatic: Paramount settled a swimsuit with President Trump over CBS’s controversial interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 marketing campaign, fearing that the FCC wouldn’t approve its $8 billion sale to unbiased studio Skydance.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr speaks during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2025 Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 9, 2025. REUTERS
It additionally cancelled the late-night show of the money-losing and politically charged comedian Steven Colbert.
Other broadcast networks have been settling numerous lawsuits with Trump – ABC forking over $16 million to settle a swimsuit with the president over feedback made by information host George Stephanopoulos, to remain on Carr’s good aspect.
Here’s the newest on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension after Charlie Kirk feedback
Unlike cable, the FCC has the authority to throttle content material that airs on “public airwaves” – aka native TV networks – by withholding broadcast licenses. That contains native stations owned by the likes of NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox, in addition to people who have agreements to run their programming, like Nexstar.
In the previous, the FCC has given large latitude for broadcasters to air something besides obscenity; that’s why people like Steven Colbert, Kimmel, and even alleged straight information broadcasts like “60 Minutes” may get away with left-wing commentary regardless of large swaths of the nation hating these views.
Jimmy Kimmel’s show has been suspended by ABC indefinitely. GC Images
Kimmel’s odd feedback on Monday riled Carr not just for mocking conservatives as they mourned Kirk’s assassination, but additionally seeming to indicate a deceptive narrative that his murderer was conservative himself: “we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Yes, that too would have been thought-about First Amendment-protected speech during earlier administrations. Carr would argue the Constitution’s speech clause isn’t absolute. It solely means the authorities can’t jail Kimmel or Colbert for his or her opinions.
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“Clearly, Nexstar is sucking up to Carr,” one telecom lawyer advised me Wednesday simply after the show’s cancellation. “Kimmel’s comments are noxious, but from a First Amendment standpoint, they would have been protected in the past. He’s a comedian, so how is he distorting the news unless you have a deal to be approved by the FCC?”
Either method, it doesn’t imply that the FCC has to grant you a license when it will probably make a case, which is what Carr is doing now in the broadcast industry, that one-sided politics is anathema to the public curiosity.
As Carr put it in a Wednesday interview with my Fox colleague Sean Hannity: “running a narrow partisan circus, whatever the public interest means, it’s not that.”
Nexstar is headquartered in Irving, Texas. Google Maps
Nexstar is especially susceptible to Carr’s public curiosity interpretation given its plans to broaden. It is already one of the greatest house owners of ABC affiliate stations carrying Kimmel’s show, controlling more than 30 round the nation.
The deal to buy Tegna introduced in August would lengthen the company’s attain even more. Both corporations mixed would cowl 80% of households, working 265 stations in 44 states. In some markets, the new company will control three or 4 stations.
All of that wants FCC approval.
Reps for Nexstar and the FCC didn’t return a request for remark.
