For the first time in more than two decades, millions of Americans were unable to tune in to Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday. Even as the show returned to ABC after its dramatic hiatus, in dozens of American cities—from Des Moines to Dallas—the nation’s largest local affiliate chains, Nexstar and Sinclair, continued to keep his show off the air.
The broadcasters’ continued pre-empting of Kimmel’s show is the latest twist in a week-long saga sparked by one line in the comedian’s Sept. 15 monologue: “The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Politicians, corporations, and the public reacted loudly. On the right, his comment about the politicization of the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was proof of Hollywood’s disdain for the everyday Americans who were Kirk’s fans. On the left, his subsequent suspension by Disney-owned ABC—initially described as indefinite—was seen as evidence of Trump-era censorship and corporate cowardice.
But behind the outrage lies a thornier business dilemma—one that now ensnares the legacy of Disney CEO Bob Iger, broadcast television, and President Donald Trump’s impact on the media. Even after Kimmel returned to the air with a rousing and at times tearful monologue, the two largest local TV broadcasters stayed dark. Those affiliates represent largely conservative parts of the country, communities that largely supported pulling Kimmel. But liberals say the move has nothing to do with viewer preferences, arguing that corruption and antitrust horse-trading at the FCC are the real reason for the move. The reality is more complex than either explanation, according to insiders.
The FCC is ‘weaponizing its licensing authority’
For broadcasters like Nexstar and Sinclair, many aspects of their business are governed by the Federal Communications Commission. The regulatory body, led by Chairman Brendan Carr, wields enormous power over media companies and their operations, holding the right to approve or reject mergers and impose regulations on broadcasters. It’s this authority that critics like Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundationargue is the driving force behind Nexstar and Sinclair’s decision to preempt Kimmel’s show—pointing to Carr’s past rhetoric and comments he made on a podcast last week criticizing Kimmel.
“Brendan Carr has made very clear that his M.O. is to wield the FCC’s power to approve media mergers, to extract concessions from media companies, to censor content that he dislikes and that President Trump dislikes,” Stern told Fortune. “There’s no separation between Brendan Carr’s agenda and President Trump’s agenda. He has said so himself any number of times.”
The FCC’s sole Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, made similarcriticisms, telling Axios last week the Trump administration is “weaponizing its licensing authority in order to bring broadcasters to heel.”
Since being appointed by Trump to lead the FCC, Carr has launched investigations into claims of biased and unfair programming by local TV stations during the 2024 election, and is looking into PBS and NPR over claims that the public news organizations violated rules that prevented them from airing commercials. Carr has also cautioned that he can block media mergers that he considers potentially harmful to local stations’ independence.
Following Kimmel’s controversial monologue, Carr told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that stations airing Kimmel’s show “could face consequences,” including the withholding of local TV stations’ licenses. His comments were the latest in the chairman’s plan to use the FCC to encourage local TV stations to reject content they deem disagreeable. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr told the podcast host.
Shortly after Carr’s comments aired, Nexstar and Sinclair announced they were pulling Kimmel off air. The two broadcast companies control around a quarter of local ABC stations, with Nexstar owning 23 of ABC affiliates and Sinclair holding more than 40.
The $6.2 billion merger that needs the Trump administration’s approval
But suspended licenses aren’t the only concernhanging in the balance of Nexstar and Sinclair’s decision to continue pre-empting Kimmel.
Nexstar is currently attempting to acquire TEGNA, a fellow local television provider, in a $6.2 billion deal which would expand its reach to more than 80% of U.S. television households and add dozens ofmajor affiliates in key markets for Nexstar. That deal, which would build upon the broadcaster’s 2019 acquisition of Tribune Media, needs general FCC approval and changes to a regulatory cap that limits a company from owning broadcast TV stations reaching more than 39% of U.S. television households.
Sinclair, for its part, has its own business interests that are heavily dependent upon FCC policies. Any future acquisitions and dealmaking would require changes to ownership caps, amended rules about how many major stations one company can own in a market, and license-renewal requirements.
Disney also faces regulatory hurdles in its operations, though those didn’t stop it from reinstating Kimmel. The company has been actively consolidating its streaming operations, recently announcing the merger of Hulu into Disney+ by 2026 and combining Hulu + Live TV with FuboTV in a $439 million deal. These efforts require various regulatory approvals directly related to the FCC.
Carr’s potential approval of the Nexstar-TEGNA deal would fall in line with his advocacy for deregulation and consolidation in the broadcast industry. He has already voiced opposition to the 39% ownership rule, calling it “arcane” and indicated a willingness to change it. The deregulatory stance of the Trump administration’s FCC has, unsurprisingly, earned the praise of Nexstar CEO Perry Sook, who applauded Trump administration initiatives that he saidwould allow local broadcasters to “expand reach” and “compete more effectively.”
Carr hasrejected the notion that his comments played a major role in Disney’s decision to suspend Kimmel. Instead he placed responsibility squarely on Disney, local TV stations, and Democrats whom he accused of “illegally weaponizing government to silence dissent.”
“Local TV stations, not the national programmers, have public interest obligations, and they should be making decisions that in their view meets the needs of their local communities,” he said in a forum Tuesday. Neither Carr nor his deputies at the FCC responded to repeated Fortune requests for comment.
One media executive connected to both broadcasters similarly dismissed claims that Nexstar and Sinclair’s actions were being dictated by Carr and the Trump Administration. The source, who was granted anonymity out of fear of retaliation, acknowledged that while broadcasters enjoy being in the White House’s favor, the same sentiment has been true for prior administrations. “The only difference is this President is very vocal, and he will call you out for good or bad,” they told Fortune.
‘Very conservative markets’
Lost in the Carr controversy are the political leanings of Sinclair and Nexstar’s local audiences and Kimmel’s overall performance, both of which several industry insiders told Fortune are key facets of the broadcasters’ Kimmel strategy.
“A lot of the markets where they own stations are very conservative markets,” the media executive explained. “So when people are upset about Charlie Kirk’s death and then the so-called ‘Hollywood liberals’ come out and almost make a joke about it, it makes it even more difficult.”
Nexstar, the nation’s largest local broadcasting group, owns more than 200 stations in 116 markets, reaching 220 million people. The company has a long history of operating stations in mid-sized and smaller markets, often in duopolies (owning two stations in the same market). While Nexstar has several stations in major U.S. cities, its focus on smaller markets and rural locations has positioned the company in areas where Trump performed strongly, especially in the Midwest and swing states like Pennsylvania and Nevada. Audiences in rural areas, and rural residents in general, have leaned towards Republican politics in the past several elections. In 2024, President Trump won 93% of rural counties in the general election—the highest share of any Republican presidential candidate this century.
As for the company itself, Nexstar has historically leaned right of center. While its programming is not overtly partisan, and the company has given to candidates on both sides of the aisle, it has contributed moreto Republican causes and benefitted from conservative politics. The broadcaster’s political action committee distributed $286,900 to federal candidates in the 2023-2024 election cycle, with 54.72% going to Republicans. Nexstar also generated $491 million in political advertising revenue during 2024, setting a new company record and representing “significant income from Republican campaigns,” according to Sook. Nexstar, on behalf of Sook, declined a Fortune request for comment.
Sinclair’s demographics are similar. The company is the second-largest owner of local TV stations in the U.S., with 185 stations across 85 markets. The broadcaster has typically purchased stations in smaller cities and more rural areas, but Sinclair does own stations in metropolitan areas including Washington, D.C.; Columbus, Ohio; St. Louis; and Baltimore. Overall, support for Trump also increased in nearly every county served by Sinclair, with the exception of a few dominant Democratic strongholds, throughout the 2024 election cycle.
Sinclair’s editorial slant leans more overtly Republican. The company’s stations emphasized Trump’s core messaging themes throughout 2024, featuring crime, homelessness, illegal immigration, and illegal drug-related content that aligned with the president’s campaign messaging. The company’s chairman, David Smith, is a long-time Republican donor with ties to Trump and Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA. Smith declined a Fortune request for comment.
Sinclair has also cashed in on right-wing politics. It reported $138 million in political advertising revenue for the third quarter of 2024, ahead of the election—representing substantial income from Republican campaigns. And Sinclair’s CEO Chris Ripley has been vocal in his support of Trump’s presidency, claiming “a cloud over the industry is lifting” following the election.
The accelerated death of the late shows
Audience partisanship aside, Kimmel’s viewership and ratings have experienced a significant and accelerating decline over the past three years, according to Nielsen. In 2024, the show lost over 12% of viewers in its key demographic (ages 18 to 49), and its household rating (the percentage of households in the market who viewed the show) this August stood at 0.35, the lowest of the year. Kimmel is far from the only network talk show host seeing such a dip.
Across the board, viewership for Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert has dropped by up to 80% in the key 18-49 demographic over the last decade. Kimmel’s show was often watched by only 1.6 million people. The decline,analysts believe, has led late-night shows to become unprofitable. One analyst estimated that Colbert’s show, for instance, haslost $25-40 million per year
A divide has also emerged among viewers. A 2025 Associated Press-NORC poll found that Democrats are significantly more likely to regularly watch late-night shows than Republicans. The format of late-night TVshows also face challenges from streaming services, social media, and on-demand content consumption patterns. All of these factors have been compounded by networks increasingly replacing traditional late-night formats with lower-cost alternatives and late-night shows increasingly relying on YouTube clips and social media content. Jimmy Kimmel Live has 20.8 million YouTube subscribers. On Tuesday, however, the show recorded its highest ratings in over a decade due to a massive influx of millions of viewers.
Regardless of the reasons, Nexstar and Sinclair are likely within their rights to pre-empt Kimmel for a prolonged period. While the carriage agreements between ABC and Sinclair and Nexstar respectively are undisclosed, network contracts with station groups typically allow local affiliates the “right to reject” content they deem against the public interest of unfit for their audiences.
The two companies collectively control 25% of ABC stations across the country. Should Nexstar and Sinclair continue to keep Kimmel off the air, Disney may change broadcasting partners when its existing contracts expire. But for now, the stalemate continues.
Editor’s note: Lily Mae Lazarus’ father, Edward Lazarus, served as Chief of Staff for the FCC from 2009 to 2012, and was separately directly involved in Nexstar’s acquisition of Tribune Media.
