Jimmy Kimmel’s upcoming return to late-night television is predicted to experience a significant decline in viewership, as 70 ABC affiliate stations have opted out of airing Tuesday’s show.
On Tuesday morning, Nexstar announced it would not broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its 28 ABC-affiliated stations, as reported by Variety. This decision aligns Nexstar with Sinclair, another broadcaster choosing the same course of action.
Sinclair Broadcast Group already said it would not screen Kimmel’s comeback on the 38 ABC affiliates it owns.
Nexstar’s lineup includes stations like KOMO in Seattle and KATU in Portland, both areas with audiences inclined toward Kimmel’s style of humor, and whose viewership is crucial to his ratings and success.
As a result, approximately one-third of the 230 ABC local affiliates will not be showing the network’s premier late-night show, which was previously suspended last Wednesday.
Kimmel’s show will also be drained of vital advertiser cash that would have been spent had his show aired on the affiliates as usual.
Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr issued a warning to ABC after Kimmel commented last week that the ‘MAGA gang’ was attempting to dissociate from Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, since September 15.
Nextstar was the first ABC affiliate owner to announce it would not be airing Kimmel’s show. Sinclair followed suit.
ABC parent company Disney then announced that it was suspending Kimmel, before reinstating him this week.
In a statement, Sinclair said it would replace Kimmel’s show with news programming pending further ‘discussions with ABC.’
Jimmy Kimmel’s comeback show on Tuesday night will not be aired by 70 ABC affiliate TV stations across the US
In the photo, Nexstar founder Perry Sook is seen on stage during NATPE Miami 2020. The company confirmed on Tuesday morning that it would not air Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the 28 ABC-affiliated stations it oversees.
In a statement, Nextstar said that it stood by its decision to pull Kimmel from the air.
‘In the meantime, we note that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets.’
On Monday, Sinclair also said in a statement that it has not changed its position on Kimmel and that it too would continue talks with ABC.
Disney announced earlier in the day that it was reversing the ‘indefinite’ hiatus ordered Monday amid backlash stemming from Kimmel’s comments.
The host said a week earlier: ‘We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it.’
Kimmel then played a clip of Trump responding to a question about how he was coping with Kirk’s death, before poking fun at the president’s mourning process.
He was reprimanded Wednesday by Carr, who told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that he was considering an investigation into Kimmel and ABC over the comments.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said they’ll ‘return the show on Tuesday’
FCC chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday told podcaster Benny Johnson that an apology is ‘a very reasonable, minimal step that can be taken’. No such plans were detailed in Disney’s statement
Kirk, who was 31 when he was killed, is survived by his wife Erika, with whom he had a three-year-old daughter and a son, 16 months, seen here
Execs at Sinclair and Nexstar then told ABC and Disney it would not be airing Kimmel’s show until his comments were addressed. Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet has called on both to not ‘cave.’
Additionally, Sinclair called on Kimmel to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family and also make ‘a meaningful personal donation to the Kirk Family and Turning Point USA,’ the slain conservative activist’s media company.
Carr, during his conversation with Johnson, framed an apology ‘as a very reasonable, minimal step that can be taken’.
No such plans were specified in Disney’s statement Monday, in which it was announced Kimmel’s show would return Tuesday night.
Both affiliate companies represent a sizable slice of Kimmel’s ad revenue. Broadcast and cable TV ad revenue is in the midst of a natural decline, due to the advent of streaming.
Developing story, check back for updates…
