After ABC lifted its nearly week-long suspension on Monday, Jimmy Kimmel Live! returns to airwaves Tuesday … sort of. Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group, two of the largest owners of ABC affiliate TV stations in the United States, will still indefinitely preempt the show.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, that amounts to a total of 66 ABC stations in the U.S. that will not carry Kimmel’s show for the time being.
“We made a decision last week to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse,” Nexstar announced in a statement Tuesday. “We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve. 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.”
Meanwhile, Sinclair announced on Monday that they would air news programming instead of Kimmel’s show. “Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the company stated.
Kimmel received blowback for his monologue on his September 15th episode where he commented on the possible political allegiances of the alleged assassin of conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk.
The monologue sparked the ire of Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, a Trump Administration appointee who suggested on a podcast that the broadcast licenses of ABC and its affiliates could potentially be revoked over the matter.
Almost immediately after Carr’s remarks both Nexstar and Sinclair – both of which have respective merger deals in the works that require FCC approval – announced they would preempt Kimmel’s program, leading Disney-owned ABC to suspend Kimmel indefinitely.
ABC reinstated Kimmel’s show on Monday after many film and TV talents in front of and behind the camera that have worked with Disney, like Star Wars’ Mark Hamill and She-Hulk’s Tatiana Maslany, either threatened to never work with Disney again or urged their followers to cancel their Disney+, Hulu and ESPN subscriptions for what they deemed ABC cowing to government pressure to stifle citizens’ First Amendment rights.
So which U.S. cities and TV stations are impacted by Nexstar and Sinclair’s ongoing pre-emption? See the full lists below.
These are the Nexstar affiliate cities and stations pre-empting Jimmy Kimmel Live!:
Nashville, TN WKRN Salt Lake City, UT KTVXHartford / New Haven, CT WTNH Harrisburg, PA WHTM Grand Rapids, MI WOTVNew Orleans, LA WGNORichmond, VA WRIC Knoxville, TN WATE Albany, NY WTEN Syracuse, NY WSYR Burlington, VT WVNY Tri-Cities, TN-VA WJHL Augusta, GA WJBF Evansville, IN WEHT Lansing, MI WLAJ Youngstown, OH WYTVRockford, IL WTVO Lubbock, TX KAMC Topeka, KS KTKA Midland / Odessa, TX KMID Panama City, FL WMBB Sioux City, IA KCAU Joplin, MO KODE Erie, PA WJETTerre Haute, IN WAWV Binghamton, NY WIVT WBGH-CD Wheeling, WV – Steubenville, OH WTRF Billings, MT KSVI Dothan, AL WDHN Utica, NY WUTR Clarksburg / Weston, WV WBOY Watertown, NY WWTI
These are the Sinclair cities and stations pre-empting Jimmy Kimmel Live!:
Abilene-Sweetwater KTXSAmarillo, TX KVII Amarillo, TX KVIH Birmingham, AL WABM Birmingham, AL WBMA Birmingham, AL WDBB Champaign – Springfield – Decatur, IL WICD Champaign – Springfield – Decatur, IL WICS Charleston – Huntington, WV WCHS Charleston, SC WCIV Chattanooga, TN WTVC Columbus, OH WSYX Dayton, OH WKEF Eureka KAEF Florence – Myrtle Beach, SC WPDE Greensboro – High Point – Winston Salem, NC WXLVGreenville – Spartanburg, SC / Asheville, NC / Anderson, SC WLOS Greenville-N.Bern-Washington WCTI Lincoln – Hastings – Kearney, NE KHGI Lincoln – Hastings – Kearney, NE KHGI-CD Lincoln – Hastings – Kearney, NE KWNB Lincoln – Hastings – Kearney, NE KWNB-LD Little Rock – Pine Bluff, AR KATV Macon, GA WGXA Mobile, AL / Pensacola, FL WEAR Ottumwa, IA / Kirksville, MO KTVO Portland, OR KATU Quincy, IL / Hannibal, MO / Keokuk, IA KHQA Roanoke – Lynchburg, VA WSET Rochester, NY WHAM San Angelo KTXE-LD Seattle – Tacoma, WA KOMO St. Louis, MO KDNL Traverse City – Cadillac, MI WGTQ Traverse City – Cadillac, MI WGTU Traverse City – Cadillac, MI WPBN Traverse City – Cadillac, MI WTOM Tulsa, OK KTUL Washington, DC WJLA
Jimmy Kimmel Live! isn’t the only TV show that frequently criticizes the Trump Administration to return this week. South Park will also air a new episode tomorrow, although co-creator Matt Stone emphasized that “no one censored us” and they were simply late finishing the episode.
