Starting Tuesday following Disney’s decision to resume airing of new episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, Nexstar Media, the owner of the TV station’s group, said it will continue to pre-empt the show.
In a statement Tuesday morning, Nexstar said: “Last week, ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!” ABC called Kimmel’s “timing and insensitive” comment and promises that at a critical period of public discourse, all parties will foster respectful and constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.
The company continued. “In the meantime, beware of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ While it will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, our stations will focus on continuing local news and other programming related to their respective markets. ”
Nexstar operates 28 ABC-related stations. The decision comes after another large station group, Sinclair, announced on Monday that it would pre-empt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The entire 38 ABC Local Stations have been operating since Tuesday despite the end of Kimmel Suspension’s Disney. “Starting Tuesday night, Sinclair will be ahead of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “A representative from Sinclair will be replacing it with news programming across ABC’s affiliate stations,” the statement said. “A discussion with ABC is ongoing when evaluating the show’s potential returns.”
Refusing to broadcast Nexstar and Sinclair’s “Kimmel” means that almost a third of the approximately 240 National ABC Stations will not carry the program for the time being. Together, the two station groups cover about 25% of television viewers nationwide.
Last week, Disney pulled Kimmel’s late-night show after Nexter and Sinclair said they wouldn’t air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”. Following on-air comments by the hosts on the murderer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the respective markets about ABC. Disney, Nexstar and Sinclair’s first decision came after FCC Chair Brendan Carr proposed to investigate “news distortion” complaints against the ABC Station, unless Kimmel is pulled out of the air.
After several days of discussion among top Disney Brass, Disney announced that Kimmel’s suspension has ended. “Last Wednesday, we decided to pause production of the show to avoid further inflammatory tension in our country’s emotional moments. Tuesday.”
