Nexstar ABC Stations Dropping Kimmel

[NowBergen 924]

12 minutes ago, atlnews2 said:

 Gray, Sinclair, Nexstar, etc don't have the money to acquire a major network.  

I would assume all three are highly leveraged already.  

 

Despite the deep pockets of Disney, Paramount Skydance and Comcast, the costs even for them would be prohibitive.  Filling in holes in major markets may be a strategy they pursue but is it worth the cost when all three have an alternative distribution channel?

[Georgie56 3661]

Kimmel is back.

 

 

[Megatron81 343]

I thought that Jimmy Kimmel was going to return didn't want to give Trump that W. As someone else said once his contract comes up in 2026 the show will be ending in my opinion, and Jimmy Kimmel becomes his own boss on streaming in my opinion. I wonder if Nexstar & Sinclair will air Kimmel or just have a replacement with news or syndication on their TV stations. 

[NowBergen 924]

9 minutes ago, Megatron81 said:

I thought that Jimmy Kimmel was going to return didn't want to give Trump that W. As someone else said once his contract comes up in 2026 the show will be ending in my opinion, and Jimmy Kimmel becomes his own boss on streaming in my opinion. I wonder if Nexstar & Sinclair will air Kimmel or just have a replacement with news or syndication on their TV stations. 

 

That is my question too.  They should allow their viewers choice, including self censuring by not watching.  Most of them are probably asleep by then anyway.

[mre29 1967]

5 minutes ago, Megatron81 said:

I thought that Jimmy Kimmel was going to return didn't want to give Trump that W. As someone else said once his contract comes up in 2026 the show will be ending in my opinion, and Jimmy Kimmel becomes his own boss on streaming in my opinion. I wonder if Nexstar & Sinclair will air Kimmel or just have a replacement with news or syndication on their TV stations. 

 

Personally, I hope ABC read them the riot act and made it perfectly clear that not airing JKL would be a violation of their affiliation agreement...but that's just me.

 

 

Quote

NEW from DISNEY: Jimmy Kimmel returns Tuesday night.

"Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.  It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.  We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday."

 

I'd have preferred a full-throated public apology from Disney/ABC executives (including Iger) to Kimmel, his staff, and viewers, but this is good.

 

[TVHead 21]

18 minutes ago, mre29 said:

Personally, I hope ABC read them the riot act and made it perfectly clear that not airing JKL would be a violation of their affiliation agreement...but that's just me.

 

Seeing as the Kirk memorial wasn't shown on the Sinclair affiates after all, I assume Disney gave them a behind-the-scenes talking to and reminder of their affiliate obligations.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 869]

The damage has definitely been done. Sinclair is not about to be having any ABC affiliated stations come renewal time. I'm gonna call it now. 

[mre29 1967]

24 minutes ago, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

The damage has definitely been done. Sinclair is not about to be having any ABC affiliated stations come renewal time. I'm gonna call it now. 

 

At least not without some serious concessions.

 

[nathannah 2792]

20 minutes ago, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

The damage has definitely been done. Sinclair is not about to be having any ABC affiliated stations come renewal time. I'm gonna call it now. 

At the very least, the local stations are going to make sure that corporate starts standing down and letting them make their own programming decisions, both them and Nexstar, and the networks are going to begin to put in a nuclear option clause that they can pull if there's no critical local/national need to pre-empt a show. At least with NYPD Blue in the 90s you had the station GMs (except for the stubborn one at WLOX) humbled once they realized the alternate station airing it was killing whatever 60s sitcom replaced it in the ratings, and the blowback was locally limited.

 

Personally I don't think they cared if Sinclair pre-empted a Friday rerun for something else, but having it revealed as a literal National News Desk infomercial disguised as a tribute was the last straw.

 

The other thing is I don't think an apology is needed from the network since Bob, Dana and Jimmy worked it out like adults. We'll probably get some jibes tomorrow night about the C-suite, but it'll be harmless and most of the venom will be reserved for Nexstar and Sinclair for trying to police the rest of the network (WISN was already in promotional mode about tomorrow night's return today and ready to move on).

[MD TV 389]

Looks like Sinclair is still not playing nice:

 

Also:

 

[TVLurker 389]

8 minutes ago, MD TV said:

Looks like Sinclair is still not playing nice:

How long can they not play nice for before their deal with ABC is toast?

[Glimmer 340]

If Disney chooses not to renew with Sinclair next year it’s over for them, right?

[TVLurker 389]

7 minutes ago, Glimmer said:

If Disney chooses not to renew with Sinclair next year it’s over for them, right?

They would still have NBC, CBS and FOX affiliates though.

[mre29 1967]

10 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

They would still have NBC, CBS and FOX affiliates though.

 

Unless the networks have all been waiting to see which one of them dumps Sinclair first.

 

38 minutes ago, MD TV said:

Also:

 

 

I'm sure tonight's Monday Night Football game and tomorrow's Dancing with the Stars (both live programs) were a factor, too.

 

[MidwestTV 1358]

1 hour ago, MD TV said:

Looks like Sinclair is still not playing nice:

 

Also:

 

 

ABC: Ok ok! We'll bring back Kimmel, just please stop unsubscribing from Disney+. By the way, we're raising our prices on Disney+.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

So if Sinclair is still planning on pre-empting JKL, did Nexstar cave in like a shoddily built house of cards?

Thank goodness I have access to WLOX, so I can watch JKL like any ABC viewer should be able to.

 

Come tomorrow, I"m sure Sinclair will cave in at the last minute after ABC starts serving them with papers...they always chicken out.

 

And even if they do agree to run the show, they'll probably still be toast as a holder of ABC affiliations after next year.   Remember WHDH threatened to do the same with the Jay Leno Show but later dropped those plans.  NBC probably factored that into their decision to take their ball in Boston to their own station, even if it was a low-powered gaggle of subchannels powered by NECN.

 

Edited September 23, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[GodfreyGR 812]

5 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

So if Sinclair is still planning on pre-empting JKL, did Nexstar cave in like a shoddily built house of cards?

I think much of what has been discussed behind closed doors will be evident on the show tomorrow night. If Kimmel comes out in the classic form, Either Nexstar caved, or ABC just doesn't care what they think. If Kimmel comes out a bit more subdued (which I still believe all the late night hosts [Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert, Gutfeld, and Stewart] should do to some degree), it points to all parties really had a grown up productive conversation where everyone gave some concessions in exchange for some wins.

 

Variables: The Disney+ cancellations (how many really? Who knows), How did a Family Feud rerun do in Kimmel's slot ratings-wise, Tensions through the roof, again, with bullets fired at KXTV (should have concerned everyone at the table), and do we know if any other affiliates voiced their opinion behind the scenes? Hearst? Gray? Scripps?

[ColtFromGulfcoast 869]

3 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

At least not without some serious concessions.

 

What kind of concessions. 

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

WEAR begs to differ....
https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/abc-jimmy-kimmels-suspension-show-will-return-tuesday

(looks like they posted the "wrong" article and not the TND one other Sinclair stations are posting....)

[nathannah 2792]

28 minutes ago, MidwestTV said:

 

ABC: Ok ok! We'll bring back Kimmel, just please stop unsubscribing from Disney+. By the way, we're raising our prices on Disney+.

That's what all the bundling is for; they're going to happily suggest taking on the service on a provider (as Spectrum does; was very happy to get Peacock there now) or bundle it in with Max or any other service to get it cheaper. Very few actually pay that sticker price and find a way to get it cheap, but it's not good for people who do pay it.

 

24 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Thank goodness I have access to WLOX, so I can watch JKL like any ABC viewer should be able to.

Considering the NYPD Blue pre-emption I mentioned, what a whiplash to see their most tenuous affiliate content-wise become one of their most reliable, while Gray is just licking its lips at the chaos to the east in Mobile-Pensacola. Their plan of having southern low-power Telemundo affiliates as sister stations may bear more fruit than they thought.

Edited September 23, 2025 by nathannah

[MorningNews 1711]

A bit more subdued on whose behalf? Kimmel to this point hasn’t said anything inflammatory. Surely you couldn’t be suggesting he tone down making fun of the POTUS? 

[jumbojoe92 1]

43 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

WEAR begs to differ....
https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/abc-jimmy-kimmels-suspension-show-will-return-tuesday

(looks like they posted the "wrong" article and not the TND one other Sinclair stations are posting....)

I think that's just a national article.... WEAR may actually air something else after all. 

[Jase 1164]

2 hours ago, Glimmer said:

If Disney chooses not to renew with Sinclair next year it’s over for them, right?

 

Honestly, if this issue isn't resolved quickly; then I don't see Disney waiting until next year to take some type of action. If that means going to court or pulling the affiliation outright. Not sure what Sinclair's endgame is here. They made their point and should move on. Why risk losing the affiliation and the ad revenue that goes along with it over something as trivial as this?

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

2 hours ago, nathannah said:

That's what all the bundling is for; they're going to happily suggest taking on the service on a provider (as Spectrum does; was very happy to get Peacock there now) or bundle it in with Max or any other service to get it cheaper. Very few actually pay that sticker price and find a way to get it cheap, but it's not good for people who do pay it.

 

Considering the NYPD Blue pre-emption I mentioned, what a whiplash to see their most tenuous affiliate content-wise become one of their most reliable, while Gray is just licking its lips at the chaos to the east in Mobile-Pensacola. Their plan of having southern low-power Telemundo affiliates as sister stations may bear more fruit than they thought.

Back then, WLOX was still family owned by the Love family.  They later sold out to Liberty who continued the ban of the show.

Another station that kept NYPD Blue off for an extended period of time was WMBB in Panama City.  Their ban started in 1993 and ended in 1997 after the television ratings were adopted.  This was at the behest of their general manager while the station was owned by Spartan.

 

 

 

[mre29 1967]

Not sure what ABC is showing this hour nationally, but WTNH (the Nexstar-owned ABC affiliate here in CT) repeated their 11:00pm news (which was already running late due to football overrun) and is now repeating CT Buzz, their midday lifestyle show.

 

Immediately following that second showing, though, was an extended shot from a rooftop camera that lasted at least three minutes. I'm guessing they were still trying to figure out what to put on next.