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And neither of those cancellations came from pressure from the government.

With the demands that Sinclair is levying on Jimmy Kimmel to return to their stations, ABC needs to grow a backbone and pull ALL of their affiliations from Sinclair. They expire in 2026, but technically what they're doing is very likely a breach of contract that should give them the right to act immediately. They should have done it 20 years ago before Sinclair quadrupled in size and acquired leading stations they've driven into the ground. If things continue how they are, the network/affiliation model is on a fast track to extinction. Really the only premiere programming left is live sports and news, everything else worthwhile has migrated to streaming.

Or from monopolistic station groups run by Conservative CEOs.

I agree that late night has become too much politics, and all the hosts have the same opinions. I agree the best part of Kimmel's show is his non-political stuff. Jimmy Fallon is my favorite because he has the best politics vs fun balance, but apparently audiences want more politics because he's third in the ratings. I always skip Kimmel's monologue because he's a one topic act, Donald Trump every night for the last 10 years. BUT Kimmel was correct here. The right was desperate to not have Kirk's killer be one of them (a white American gun owner--per Utah's governor) and Trump seemed to mourn Kirk's death quickly as he hastily switched an interview topic to construction. This is different from Roseanne and Tucker Carlson's cancellations. Roseanne made a racist/islamophobic comment and Tucker Carlson spewed false election conspiracy theories. As much as both sides have practiced cancel culture and steered into extremism, one side has been more governmentally aggressive. This particular situation is not both sided. A president and his one specific political party are utilizing the government to silence specific opposing media viewpoints.

Or someone realized that people were now paying attention to Nexstar and the FCC for all the wrong reasons and there's be no way to hide this deal's ugliness except to hold off on putting the paperwork up.

You are wrong about most stations still able to pre-empt programming whenever they want in their contracts. Network affiliate agreements have changed. There may be a few exceptions, but it's not the norm anymore, especially for a large group of weak underperforming stations like Sinclair. Most Sinclair stations are last place, with horrible quality newscasts. They are not a desirable station group to affiliate with. Even stations way more important than the ones owned by Sinclair and Nexstar who used to get away with airing programming at different times are now forced to air network programming at the correct time when their affiliate agreement is renewed. You are also making a ridiculous comparison. First, the examples you provided are not even true, WSVN rarely pre-empts FOX programming anymore, but pre-empting a rare sporting event once in awhile is not the same as pre-empting 5 hours of programming per week, and you are wrong about WHDH, WHDH never actually pre-empted The Jay Leno Show, they wanted to, but NBC wouldn't let them, so no NBC does not blame WHDH for Jay Leno failing, WHDH aired Jay Leno just like NBC wanted. Then there is the fact that "Local" affiliates didn't object to carrying Jimmy Kimmel Live. The "local" affiliates had nothing to do with the decision. Right wing conglomerates who own the stations made the decision. It was not made at the station level at all. There is nothing normal or justifiable about what Nexstar and Sinclair did. If Disney had a backbone they would pull their affiliations from both groups, but Disney is terrified of upsetting the far right authoritarian government and evil dictator in the white house.

He is not a journalist. He stated an opinion as is his prerogative. And there is a great deal we do not know about this highly suspect case. But that is neither here nor there. The FCC making threats over content is the issue.

Important to note that Kimmel did NOT say that the shooter is MAGA.

Another example of why media consolidation is not always a good thing. Considering in some markets, every commercial anglo TV station is owned by Nexstar and Sinclair, the danger is even worse. There are no independent voices other than Sinclair's unabashed far right slant or Nestar's corporate direction. Not sure how that's in the public interest.

We're taking about 65+ stations, not one, two or a dozen. This is an unprecedented (and very troubling) move by Nexstar and Sinclair. They can take this newfound leverage and wield it however they like without consequence.

Exactly. He said he grew up up in a MAGA household which is a fact. Snowflakes don't like the facts. In the end this is censorship with more threatened by Carr and trump. We still have a Constitution and First Amendment. Those are at odds with each other. We have the right to praise, criticize, mock or whatever else as long as we don't make threats. That is illegal and crosses a line. It is time broadcasters fight back and protect our freedoms. The capitulation to trump only emboldens him to do mare, with ABC and CBS paving that way.

I guess they had to give him something to do. Didn't they bring him in to anchor weekdays? Elaine is definitely gone and back to the network. A CBS2 reporter confirmed it in a PM on IG.

Possibly soon, but not yet. Right now, it's time for ABC to grow a spine and do right by Kimmel, his staff, and his viewers.

I agree. But alas, in St. Louis, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sinclair owns the ABC affiliate, and only other station in the market that could potentially take it is Nexstar, who controls KPLR. It's possible that Weigel could pick up the ABC affiliation on KNLC or Scripps on WRBU, but I'm not sure about the mechanics. The only solution is to hit back hard in 2029, and cut ownership caps..by a lot.

Aside from a civil war, the best thing Americans can do right now is cancel their subscriptions en masse to these companies that are bowing down. Make it hurt to the point that the oppressors are the ones begging for mercy.

This is what I have been coming back to as I think about the situation (as I desperately try to not think about it, and have tried to stay away). Johnny, Letterman, and Leno all took their political jabs when the news of the day called for it, but the timing and the joke had to be right, and both sides were fair game for a punchline as warranted. Johnny Carson also did warn about the dangers of taking political stances in the position of a late night host. As I have reflected, the constant politics is why I've turned off late night shows. When Leno returned to the airwaves post 9/11, he equated The Tonight Show to a cookie and a glass of lemonade for a firefighter working a recovery shift in New York City- a break from all that is dark, dour, and negative around us. We all need a break from the constant news cycle and cesspool that has become the Facebook comments section. Kimmel used to do YouTube challenges that breathed new life into funny home videos, and Fallon with his sketch comedy- all were a nice end of the day break for many of us. For the record, I do not think what Kimmel said warranted the suspension- He has said worse. However, he also celebrated the cancellation of Roseanne Barr and Tucker Carlson's shows for opinions they have spewed that were deemed offensive to their detractors. I am not here to suggest what one celebrity has said is better or worse than the other- the common denominator with each is that what was said upset a faction of the public general and lead to that celebrity being sanctioned by their respective employer. The root of the issue in this thread is the quid-pro-quo at the FCC- not Kimmel, not people being upset over comments. If we really cancelled hosts for tasteless jokes, Letterman would have gotten canned for his remarks about Sarah Palin's daughter in 2009. But alas- he conceded it was a poor joke, offered an apology, and life seemed to move on. This time, however, you have the issue of Mr. Carr that has been lamented to exhaustion on this board and a station group that wants approval to continue to consume more competitors. There is your issue. At the end of the day- Kimmel, and all hosts have the ability to say what they want, and it is the viewer's choice whether or not to watch- The remote is a powerful voting tool and there's plenty of tv to watch out there. But also, as viewership declines across the genre leading to lower advertising revenue, perhaps accompanying the Backstreet Boys with Fisher Price instruments or coercing viewers to pull pranks on their family might not be that bad of an idea. Laugh emoji away...

If you look at WPIX's report last night at 10pm, their introduction to the story was very transparent: "ABC decided to pull the plug on the show after Nexstar, which is PIX11's parent company, announced that its ABC affiliates would pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live indefinitely over its Charlie Kirk comments"

Update: KCTV's tower is relit once more. It was just after 9 pm when it was relit. It even brought back its 1999-2002 logo on its time/temp bug with the current logo to mark the occasion. https://www.kctv5.com/2025/09/18/history-rekindled-iconic-kctv5-tower-once-again-shine-over-kansas-city/

It's just interesting how Nexstar is so bold in their press release craving media attention about bringing down Jimmy Kimmel, but when it comes to a major left wing market the Nexstar station is claiming it's all on ABC. The people protesting outside Disney should also protest outside KTLA. Nexstar deserves just as much negative backlash as ABC and Disney do for this decision, and it's about time Nexstar stations start to suffer in left wing markets. LA's Very Own is owned by the MAGA far right

This is never going to happen. The only ones who should be giving an apology is Disney, ABC, Nexstar, and Sinclair. Jimmy Kimmel Live's ratings surpassed NBC's The Tonight Show because he focused on politics. It might be annoying to MAGA, but MAGA has lots of other things to watch. The country is never going to unify, the right has gone way too extreme for that to ever happen.

I stand corrected.

Because the corporate brass at Nexstar are probably watching the editorial actions of KTLA more closely than that of a random affiliate in a smaller or medium market.

no. The shooter is an obvious leftist. You have to be blind, deaf, dumb and a liar to claim otherwise. We can all read that savage's text and discord messages. Even me, English as third language and having failed it at 8th grade in eastern europe, can read and understand also "Charlie Kirk is a Nazi" totally something something on the right would say about Kirk which part of lying on TV while holding an FCC license was hard for you to comprehend? I thought we were supposed to battle misinformation and disable those people's social media and everything else

This. The rules apply to thee, not to me. Except that Kimmel’s statement actually has more to back it up at the time. Heck, it still does. Now, let’s be honest amongst ourselves. What he said was not about the victim. It was about the accused, alleged perpetrator. And those who were and are in mourning were not likely to be Kimmel viewers. It defies logic to assume that generally benign statement of opinion was reaching a large swath of the victim’s followers.

If Kimmel saying the shooter is MAGA is reckless, then so is all the right-wingers saying the shooter is from the left.

20 minutes? I'm assuming you don't live in the NY area. It starts at 8:30 and ends after noon. All names of everyone who died in both WTC bombings, as well as first responders who have died since due to health problems as a result of being at ground zero are read. The names are read by relatives - spouses, siblings, children and now children who add their own thoughts of the lost family member and how they are with them and shaped their lives, now 24 years later. Some of these are heartbreaking. It is not a 20 minute recognition. And for us locals, still mesmerizing and heartbreaking to watch. All morning programming (and commercials) are pre-empted which is why the question should every TV station continue to cover it from start to finish still is being asked. When 9/11 happened, local stations went on the air 24/7 for weeks, not carrying the network feeds and continuing past when regular programming was started elsewhere. In a word, this is uniquely New York.

As somebody who lives in the market where Gannett/TEGNA's baby is, it's so strange to me to hear of TEGNA's reputation for butchering stations in other markets.

Agreed 100%, getting rid of Andrea was a giant mistake. She was well-loved by her colleagues and viewers. I have no doubt she will end up somewhere great soon. Elaine is fine, but doesn't nearly have the personality and authenticity that Andrea had. As for the weeknight job, it would be nice to see Natalie Dudridge either get the morning or night role. I wouldn't say that Elaine is gone just yet, I've noticed during anchor intros over the last 2 months that WCBS has stopped altogether saying "in for ..." (except for meteorologists). Don't know why, but it's something noticeable. That is why Kristine was never mentioned when she was on vacation for ~ 3 weeks. Perhaps it is to de-emphasize the anchor?

Th Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cease print operation in December and go to a digital only platform. End of an era for your traditional morning newspaper. Owned by Cox Enterprises, it was split from the radio-TV division acquired by Apollo as Cox Media. WSB News-Talk Radio and WSB-TV Channel 2 remain the leading broadcast sources in Atlanta, although WSB Radio has struggled to find a strong personality to replace the retired Neal Boortz from a decade ago. Channel 2 Action News still dominates, and WFVT and WSOC remain strong performers in Orlando and Charlotte. Is the remaining Cox Media broadcast division still a likely candidate for acquisition? And who remains the likely contender?