Nexstar Media Group says its decision to suspend future airings of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on its three dozen ABC affiliates was not motivated by a number of matters that involve the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The decision came on Wednesday, hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr criticized the network’s lack of response to a monologue aired Monday evening in which Kimmel wrongly suggested that the alleged suspect in the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was politically aligned with the “MAGA gang,” a reference to supporters of President Donald Trump.
Hours after Carr’s comments, Nexstar and peer broadcaster Sinclair condemned Kimmel’s remarks and said they would stop airing the show on their ABC affiliates for the foreseeable future. The two broadcasters own or operate more than 60 local ABC affiliates across the country.
The decision comes about a month after Nexstar announced its intention to pursue a $6 billion merger with TEGNA, which owns around 60 local television stations, including some major-market ABC affiliates. Under current FCC rules, the transaction violates a limit that restricts the number of local TV stations a company may own outright. Nexstar is one of several broadcasters pushing the FCC to eliminate the ownership cap, and its deal with TEGNA will require separate approval from the agency.
But Nexstar says its decision to suspend Kimmel’s show from their stations wasn’t connected to its pending business before federal regulators.
“No — the decision to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live was made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision,” Gary Weitman, the Chief Communications Officer at Nexstar, said in a statement e-mailed to The Desk.
When asked if the company’s “no” referred to whether the decision was influenced by Nexstar’s pending transactions before the FCC, Weitman responded: “Correct.”
Sinclair has not publicly said whether it decided to pull the program because of its own transactions before the FCC — it is in the process of buying and selling a handful of TV stations.
Carr has avoided the transactions involving Nexstar and Sinclair, but it is clear that he approves of the move made by both broadcasters, which he said was part of their obligation to serve the interest of their communities.
“Broadcast TV stations have always been required by their licenses to operate in the public interest — that includes serving the needs of their local communities,” Carr said. “And broadcasters have long retained the right to not air national programs that they believe are inconsistent with the public interest, including their local communities’ values. I am glad to see that many broadcasters are responding to their viewers as intended.”
Shortly after his comment, President Donald Trump said Carr should go even farther and pull the broadcast licenses of local TV stations owned by networks that were critical of him and his policies.
“They’re 97 percent against me; they give me only bad publicity and bad press,” Trump complained. “I mean, they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr.”
