{"id":171321,"date":"2025-09-26T22:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T22:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/171321\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T22:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T22:07:08","slug":"the-jimmy-kimmel-blackout-is-completely-over-nexstar-and-sinclair-back-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/171321\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jimmy Kimmel blackout is completely over: Nexstar and Sinclair back down"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The blackout of \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d is over.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sinclair and Nexstar, the two major station groups that preempted the talk show earlier this month, are allowing the show to return to their ABC-affiliated stations on Friday evening.\n <\/p>\n

\n This means that Kimmel will be seen again in major cities<\/a> like Washington, DC, Nashville, and Seattle, as well as several dozen other markets.\n <\/p>\n

\n The reversal is a victory for Kimmel and ABC and a reflection of the power that national networks have over local affiliates.\n <\/p>\n

\n Both Nexstar and Sinclair, which together operate nearly a quarter of ABC-affiliated stations, have been accused of trying to curry favor<\/a> with President Trump and TV station regulator Brendan Carr by keeping Kimmel off the air even after ABC reinstated the show nationally earlier this week.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sinclair claimed in a statement on Friday that \u201cour decision to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Several hours later, Nexstar issued a statement saying much the same thing.\n <\/p>\n

\n The preemptions began last week<\/a> when Carr leaned into a conservative outcry over Kimmel\u2019s Sept. 15 monologue about the suspected killer of Charlie Kirk by condemning the late-night host and threatening local station licenses.\n <\/p>\n

\n Nexstar and Sinclair informed ABC that it would yank Kimmel from its stations, leading ABC to preempt the show nationwide.\n <\/p>\n

\n Nexstar, which is seeking Trump administration approval for its acquisition of another station group, initially condemned Kimmel\u2019s commentary and said it would air other programming instead.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sinclair said at the time<\/a> that ABC\u2019s preemption was \u201cnot enough\u201d and said it wouldn\u2019t bring the show back until \u201cformal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network\u2019s commitment to professionalism and accountability.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Sinclair also called on Kimmel to apologize to Kirk\u2019s family and make a donation to Kirk\u2019s conservative political organization, Turning Point USA, although the company didn\u2019t say that was a condition of ending the blackout.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Friday, Sinclair said that it did have discussions with ABC, but that the network did not accept its proposals \u201cto strengthen accountability, viewer feedback, and community dialogue, including a network-wide independent ombudsman.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhile ABC and Disney have not yet adopted these measures, and Sinclair respects their right to make those decisions under our network affiliate agreements, we believe such measures could strengthen trust and accountability,\u201d the company added.\n <\/p>\n

\n Nexstar, too, said on Friday that it held discussions with Disney executives and \u201cappreciate(s) their constructive approach to addressing our concerns.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The station owner defended its role as a local broadcaster, stating that \u201cwe stand apart from cable television, monolithic streaming services, and national networks in our commitment \u2014 and obligation \u2014 to be stewards of the public airwaves and to protect and reflect the specific sensibilities of our communities.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But all of Nexstar\u2019s stations, from Syracuse to Salt Lake City, are resuming Kimmel\u2019s late-night show.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some affiliates of both Nexstar and Sinclair had been inundated with calls from frustrated Kimmel fans in recent days.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Thursday night, Kimmel made light of the continued preemptions in his monologue.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEven though we are still being preempted in 60 American cities, on Tuesday, we had our second-highest rated show in almost 23 years on the air,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cOur monologue from Tuesday night has more than 21 million views just on YouTube alone. And I want to say, we couldn\u2019t have done it without you, Mr. President. Thank you very much. We got the Trump bump, and we appreciate it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The blackout of \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d is over. Sinclair and Nexstar, the two major station groups that preempted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-171321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}