By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two major U.S. broadcast owners said they will not resume airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday on their ABC affiliates and will instead run other programming, after ABC parent Walt Disney announced on Monday that it will resume broadcasting the late-night talk show.
Nexstar Media and Sinclair Broadcasting said they will not resume airing the show on their 70 owned and partner ABC stations, which is more than 25% of the roughly 250 ABC affiliates nationwide.
It is unclear how long the local broadcasters will shun the program. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” Sinclair said.
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show on September 17 over comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Hours before the suspension, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr warned that local broadcasters who aired Kimmel could face fines or loss of licenses and said “it’s time for them to step up.”
Carr has praised Nexstar and Sinclair for deciding to stop airing the show. He has faced sharp criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress. Republican Senator Ted Cruz called Carr’s comments “dangerous as hell.”
Nexstar owns 23 ABC affiliates and has nine partner ABC affiliates and needs FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger with Tegna.
Disney did not immediately comment.
Nexstar said it stands by its decision to pre-empt Kimmel and that it will continue to pre-empt the show indefinitely. It said it will “monitor the show as it returns to ABC.” It operates ABC stations in Salt Lake City, Utah; Nashville and New Orleans, among other markets.
Nexstar said the show will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products.
Sinclair Broadcasting said on Monday it does not plan to resume airing Kimmel’s show on its 38 ABC affiliates and will instead air news programming, including on stations in Washington, D.C., Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)
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