Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the country’s largest owners of local television stations, announced Friday it will end its preemption of Jimmy Kimmel Live! and will resume airing the popular late-night program on its ABC affiliate stations, effective Friday evening. The decision marks a significant reversal after a period of scrutiny and debate over the network’s programming choices, with Sinclair and fellow affiliate Nexstar, which also deplatformed Kimmel, finding themselves at the center of a nationwide freedom-of-speech debate.
Sinclair fired back at its critics, claiming its decision was “independent of any government interaction or influence,” and was, in fact, an exercise of free speech itself.
“Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations,” Sinclair said, arguing, “[It’s] simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content.”
The highly unusual preemption began last week, when Sinclair pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! from its ABC-affiliated stations—an action that drew widespread attention from both industry observers and the general public. Sinclair said in its Friday statement that over the past week, it had received “thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives.” The company also said it witnessed troubling acts of violence, including a shooting at an ABC affiliate station in Sacramento, implying its removal of Kimmel was responsible in a climate of heightened tension and political violence. The company said such events “underscore why responsible broadcasting matters and why respectful dialogue between differing voices remains so important.”
According to Sinclair, the primary objective in preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! was to ensure content broadcast on local stations remains “accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience.” The company emphasized its responsibility to “provide programming that serves the interests of our communities” with its obligations to air national network programming supplied by ABC.
Discussions with Disney and the idea of an ombudsman
Sinclair claimed it engaged in “ongoing and constructive discussions with ABC,” during which it proposed a series of new accountability measures, such as creating a “network-wide independent ombudsman,” as part of a broader effort to facilitate transparency and constructive feedback. Noting that ABC and its parent company, Disney, have yet to adopt these measures, Sinclair said it believes creating this new role could help to foster trust among viewers and stakeholders across the country. It emphasized it would like to strengthen accountability, as well as viewer feedback and community dialogue.
Sinclair’s and Nexstar’s actions to remove Kimmel came amid a flurry of comments from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, prompting criticisms of a government-pressure campaign to censor speech that was critical of the president. Other criticisms, from figures such as influential podcaster Joe Rogan, argued that Kimmel was, in fact, inaccurate in the remarks that immediately preceded his preemption, having to do with the political ideology of the accused shooter of Charlie Kirk.
The appointment of an ombudsman amid a late-night host controversy and government regulation actually happened just weeks ago, when CBS News hired an ombudsman. In July, when Carr approved the takeover of CBS parent company Paramount by Skydance, a company controlled by David Ellison, the son of billionaire and Trump ally Larry Ellison, he said that an ombudsman would soon be hired. “In all respects, Skydance will ensure that CBS’s reporting is fair, unbiased, and fact-based,” Skydance said in a letter to Carr, as reported by the AP.
Shortly after Skydance took over Paramount, CBS announced the shocking cancellation of its own late-night show starring Stephen Colbert, just days after Colbert had criticized the decision surrounding the Paramount takeover.
Disney declined Fortune’s request for comment. A request for comment from Skydance was not immediately returned. Sinclair declined to comment beyond its statement.
