The Battle of Jimmy Kimmel is over, but the war between the network and affiliate marketing is repeated. Kimmel is broadcast nationwide again nationwide as rebellious affiliate owners Nexstar and Sinclair agreed to reopen the ABC late-night show after a week of standoffs.
Kimmel was benched three nights by the ABC after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Kerr threatened to punish the network for comments the host made in a monologue. Kerr assaulted at Disney after Kimmel stated that the right-wing “sought to characterize the child who murdered Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them, and was trying to do everything he could to score political points from there.
Nexstar and Sinclair pulled Kimmel away from the ABC station after Carr’s comment and forced Disney to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” At pause. However, it turned the controversy into lightning for free speech and gave Kimmel an opening to return on September 23rd.
On the surface, Disney won, right? But in the cold reality of network television these days, nothing is so easy. Certainly, Disney avoided a more explosive showdown. The short blackouts have resulted in a mild resolution. It’s surprising given that it heated up the initial rhetoric. Nexstar and Sinclair eventually rejoined the crease, but not before they made their point.
Most importantly for Nexstar and Sinclair, two companies known for their hardball tactics (just ask about syndication distributors) – they sent a loud, clear message from Disney. As an affiliate, they are not happy. Also, as they lobby the FCC and remove the cap of the number of stations that a single company can own (now at a maximum of less than 39% of all television households in the country), bulked up Nexstar and Sinclair are bending their strength and weight.
Two weeks ago, few TV viewers had heard of Nexstar or Sinclair, even if they regularly watched the stations they owned. But now they certainly have it.
Nexstar and Sinclair will be “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from their ABC affiliate in September. That power play came after Carr’s threat to Disney. Two station groups were given boycott cover. Without Nexstar or Sinclair ABC affiliate, Kimmel would have been broadcast in 25% of the country. That led Disney/ABC to bench the hosts for several days. And while Kimmel quickly aired on 75% of the country, Kerfuffle exposed a continuous rift between broadcast networks and affiliates that could be even more tense in the coming years.
Promoting hostility is a sense among affiliates that stations are forced to pay more with “reverse compensation” to the network while network ratings are declining. (Historically, networks were paid to stations to carry programming. However, by the 2000s, its power balance had reversed and the network began to demand that they pay the right to broadcast fares.) At the same time, broadcast nets push viewers up to streaming platforms, evacuating linear television, and exclude local television.
“It’s really rough,” says one executive from another station group. “Are we happy? No. But hopefully we can coexist,” says another: “With these types of shenanaganism, do we want to be a broadcast space?”
According to some affiliate agreements, Disney reserves the right to obtain a license called “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” At another station in the Nexstar/Sinclair market, ABC’s affiliates have moved it away from the air. In 1993, 57 ABC affiliates (mainly in small and medium-sized markets) refused to air the premiere of Alphabet Network’s “NYPD Blue,” citing concerns about the content. Instead, ABC cleared the show with a mix of independent Fox Stations in those cities. When “NYPD Blue” became a huge hit, they were given an ABC affiliate holdout and added the show to their lineup.
The FCC has given stations more room in recent years to reject air network fares that it considers useless in the “public interest.” However, the prospect of a long-term boycott of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on September 26th became controversial. It has been restored nationwide.
Both Nexstar and Sinclair have a conservative tendency, and companies are suspicious of excited to air Kimmel, as point out the Trump administration’s fo blame. However, there is more pressing reason why both Nexstar and Sinclair might want to seek the goodwill of the FCC. (For some of that, Nexstar had no communication with the FCC or government agencies before drawing the Kimmel show.”
Nexstar and Sinclair aim to dramatically change the shape of local television in the United States, particularly through two means. Nexstar is actively focusing on the Tegna Station Group by purchasing its $6.2 billion. Meanwhile, Sinclair wants to push through advanced ATSC 3.0 transmission technology (also known as “NextGen TV”). According to consumer groups, the majority of the spectrum can be converted for non-broadcast use. Perhaps more importantly, it owns major patents that could generate billions of dollars if 3.0 becomes the new television standard.
Ironically, if the station group joins, we expect there will be less local TV news. The adoption of ATSC 3.0 may also remove some from the game as station owners rely on other uses of the spectrum. Disney’s Bob Iger and others are pondering how long they want to stay in their local TV business to move their priorities into streaming. Could this be the beginning of the end of the station, as events from the past month have revealed some of the vulnerabilities of old network affiliate partnerships?
One executive in the frayed network affiliate tradition said “If they don’t work together, it will decline.”
