Jimmy Kimmel update | Sinclair backs down, will resume airing talk show

Sinclair Broadcast Group is backing down on Jimmy Kimmel, after admitting in a statement that it got exactly nothing from its move to pre-empt the ABC late-night talk show.

“As a company rooted in local stations, Sinclair remains committed to serving our communities with programming that reflects their priorities, earns their trust, and promotes constructive dialogue. We look forward to continuing to work with ABC to deliver content that serves a broad spectrum of our communities,” the company announced at the end of a lengthy statement issued on Friday, in which it confirmed that it will resume airing Kimmel’s late-night show.

The Baltimore-based right-wing broadcast company, which owns 34 local ABC affiliates, pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from its stations last week, citing commentary from Kimmel about the investigation into the murder of MAGA provocateur Charlie Kirk – and following threats from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that the Trump administration would consider revoking ABC’s broadcast license, which isn’t something the FCC can do, but anyway.

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As it announced the move to pre-empt the show, Sinclair demanded that Kimmel “issue a direct apology to the Kirk family” and make a “meaningful personal donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA.”

That announcement by Sinclair came on the heels of Nexstar, a broadcast company that owns 32 local ABC affiliates, saying it would not air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” – the two moves then prompted ABC to put Kimmel’s show on an indefinite hiatus, which turned out only to pre-empt four scheduled shows, as Disney, ABC’s parent company, reportedly lost more than a million subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service in the wake of the controversy.

Kimmel returned to the air on Tuesday, and the show drew an average of 6.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen, nearly quadrupling its average viewer numbers – and that’s with the show being pre-empted in more than a quarter of the country.

Sinclair aired repeats of “Family Feud” in place of Kimmel; it was running the risk of losing its affiliations with ABC if it continued to pre-empt the talk show.

Nexstar is, at this writing, still pre-empting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Nexstar, based in Irving, Texas, is seeking FCC approval of a proposed $6.2 billion merger with the Northern Virginia-based Tegna.

That’s a clear leverage point that the Trump administration can use to get Nexstar to stay on the sidelines on this one.

Sinclair was in on this fight just because its owners are MAGAs already.

“Our decision to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence,” Sinclair said in its statement today, which, fat chance on that. “Free 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.”