Sinclair Broadcast Group plans to preempt Jimmy Kimmel live on his ABC affiliates when the host at the end of the evening returns on Tuesday, but says that his talks with the network are underway.
“From Tuesday evening, Sinclair will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! In our ABC affiliation stations and replace it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are underway while we assess the potential performance of the show, “said the company.
Earlier Monday, ABC announced Kimmel’s return, after a reaction to the creative community and among others who said that the Walt Disney Co. was capitulated in the Trump administration.
The pre -emption of Sinclair leaves ABC the prospect of distributing Kimmel without a significant part of the distribution distribution. Sinclair has the greatest number of ABC affiliates among station groups. They have or control 39 stations affiliated to the ABC across the country, including one of the most lucrative to reach people in power: Wjla-TV in Washington, DC
Last week, during his monologue, Kimmel said: “We had new stockings during the weekend with the gang Maga trying desperately to characterize this child who murdered Charlie Kirk as something other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points.”
Kimmel’s remark was followed by Furor on the right on the late evening host. The president of the FCC, Brendan Carr, warned the network and its stations: “Frankly, when you see things like this, I mean, we can do it the simplest way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change driving, to act, frankly, on Kimmel, or there will be additional work for the FCC to come. ”
A few hours later, Nexstar said he was shooting Jimmy Kimmel live From its ABC stations and shortly after, the network said Kimmel was removed indefinitely in the air.
Shortly after the ABC announcement, Sinclair said that he had also informed ABC of his objections to Kimmel. He called on the late evening host to apologize to the Kirk family and to make a significant donation to the Kirk family and Turning Point USA “.
“Sinclair will not raise the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On our stations until official discussions are held with ABC concerning the commitment of the network to professionalism and responsibility, ”said the company last week.
Sinclair also said that he planned to broadcast a special tribute to Charlie Kirk in Kimmel’s time slot on Friday. But he rather moved this special to his YouTube channel and was broadcast to the programming of ABC, a replay of Foundation of the celebrity family.
Nexstar has not yet announced if it will be broadcast Kimmel. The station group has 32 ABC affiliates.
