Nexstar restoring ‘Kimmel’ to its ABC stations too

“Jimmy Kimmel Live” will also return to ABC stations owned by Nexstar Media Group Sept. 26, 2025.

Jimmy Kimmel’s show to return to Sinclair stations

The group, which announced it would preempt the show, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, before ABC announced its suspension Sept. 17, 2025, followed an earlier announcement from Sinclair Broadcast Group that it would restore the show to its stations’ airwaves.

“We stand apart from cable television, monolithic streaming services, and national networks in our commitment – and obligation – to be stewards of the public airwaves and to protect and reflect the specific sensibilities of our communities,” the company said in a statement. “To be clear, our commitment to those principles has guided our decisions throughout this process, independent of any external influence from government agencies or individuals.”

Nexstar’s move comes after controversy over comments Kimmel made on-air about the death of Charlie Kirk.

Production on the show was halted by Disney, sparking even more controversy. ABC brought the show back Sept. 23, 2025, but Nexstar and Sinclair both said they would not carry it. 

Nexstar is facing FCC approval to transfer TV station licenses for its announced acquisition of Tegna. The FCC, which is lead by Donald Trump-appointee Brendan Carr, has shown signs that it is prepared to relax ownership limits and other regulations broadcasters face. 

The FCC and Carr had already placed Paramount Global, the former owner of CBS, under investigation and was stalling on approving the license transfers needed for Skydance Media to acquire the company.

After CBS agreed to pay $16 million to settle a $20 billion lawsuit brought by Trump of what he termed deceptive editing of an interview with Kamala Harris, the FCC gave its OK on the license transfers and the merger went through. 

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All parties denied any connection between the settlement and the FCC approvals.

Nexstar never made any official announcements connecting its motives to preempt Kimmel to its merger with Tegna.

Much of Nexstar’s growth, however, can be connected to the shared services agreements it has formed in many of its markets.

These allow the company to own one station outright while another is owned by a holding company that frequently partners with Nexstar. This essentially allows Nexstar to control multiple stations in the same market, which critics have said reduces the diversity of voices in local news and productions.

Companies such as Nexstar, as well as broadcast trade groups, say such arrangements are necessary amid rising costs and shrinking linear viewership. Without these deals it would be harder for companies to invest in local TV.

In some markets, Nexstar’s Tegna buy would mean the company could potentially set the stage to control three stations, including some situations where all of the big-three affiliates would fall under its operations. 

It’s not clear if the FCC would allow such a situation, though the increasing pushes for deregulation could signal that this scenario could unfold either with Nexstar owning stations outright or through an expansion of its shared services strategy.

Nexstar would also need the FCC to lift an overall national limit on how many stations any single company can own, no matter what markets they operate in.