{"id":39759,"date":"2025-09-26T21:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/39759\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T21:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T21:50:07","slug":"jimmy-kimmel-live-will-return-to-sinclairs-abc-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/39759\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Will Return to Sinclair’s ABC Stations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSinclair has ended its preemption of Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> Live!, announcing the show will resume airing on its ABC<\/a> affiliates Friday night, Sept. 26.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, the company said, \u201cOur objective throughout this process has been to ensure that programming remains accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience. We take seriously our responsibility as local broadcasters to provide programming that serves the interests of our communities, while also honoring our obligations to air national network programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSinclair owns more than 30 ABC affiliates across the country, including those in major cities such as Seattle, St. Louis, Portland, Oregon, Columbus, Ohio, Birmingham, Alabama, and Washington, D.C. The broadcast group was the second to announce it would preempt Kimmel \u2014 following Nexstar \u2014 which led ABC to suspend<\/a> the show entirely.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe uproar was centered around<\/a> conservative outcry over a joke<\/a> Kimmel told last week about the suspect accused of shooting Charlie Kirk. Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, then said in a podcast interview that \u201clicensed broadcasters\u201d should push back against ABC\u2019s parent company, Disney<\/a>, and \u201cpreempt\u201d\u00a0Kimmel.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe then added, \u201cWe can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there\u2019s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its statement announcing Kimmel\u2019s return, Sinclair insisted that its decision to preempt the show \u201cwas independent of any government interaction or influence.\u201d They added: \u201cFree speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations. While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Kimmel returned to most ABC channels<\/a> on Tuesday, Sept. 23, Sinclair<\/a> and Nexstar continued<\/a> to preempt the show. In their statement, Sinclair said it had \u201creceived thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives\u201d on its decision to pull the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\tThey added: \u201cWe have also witnessed troubling acts of violence, including the despicable incident of a shooting at an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento. These events underscore why responsible broadcasting matters and why respectful dialogue between differing voices remains so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSinclair went on to say that it held discussions with ABC where they \u201cproposed measures to strengthen accountability, viewer feedback, and community dialogue,\u201d including the appointment of a \u201cnetwork-wide independent ombudsman.\u201d The added: \u201cThese proposals were suggested as collaborative efforts between the ABC affiliates and the ABC network. While 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<\/p>\n

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\n\tFollowing its original decision to preempt Kimmel, Sinclair said it would air a special dedicated to Kirk<\/a> in the show\u2019s usual time slot on Sept. 19. Just 10 minutes before the special was set to air, though, Sinclair announced that the Kirk special would instead air on YouTube<\/a>, with Sinclair affiliates airing Celebrity Family Feud reruns instead.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Nexstar, it has yet to announce if, or when, Kimmel will return to its affiliate stations. Notably, the company is seeking to pull off a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna, which will require the FCC\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinclair has ended its preemption of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, announcing the show will resume airing on its ABC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[10046,4550,54,146,85,46,4176,4177,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-39759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-abc","9":"tag-disney","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-jimmy-kimmel","15":"tag-jimmy-kimmel-live","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}