…in dumping Jimmy Kimmel.
According to Todd Karpovich’s article for the Baltimore Sun, via yahoo.com…
Nexstar Media Group Inc. said it will begin preempting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Tuesday’s return broadcast, joining Hunt Valley-based Sinclair Broadcast Group in pulling the show for the foreseeable future.
ABC had said Monday it would reinstate the late-night show despite criticism of Kimmel’s comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. But both Sinclair and Texas-based Nexstar said they objected to Kimmel’s remarks and would replace the program with alternative content across their ABC affiliates.
Sinclair operates 38 local ABC affiliates, while Nexstar owns about 33, giving the two companies a combined reach of 63 ABC stations nationwide.
Bottom line? ABC can reinstate Kimmel, but -at least as of now – they will be doing so without almost one-third of their total stations carrying him.
Bye-bye audience in those markets. And bye-bye ad revenue rates,because, in the absence of those affiliates, advertisers will be paying accordingly less for Kimmel’s show…assuming they even want to do so and risk taking a major PR hit.
There is no way this can hold. Stay tuned for further developments. And you can bet they’ll happen very quickly.
