Local News
“If approved, Nexstar would control TV stations reaching 80% of households — violating the cap set by Congress to protect against monopolies.”
With Jimmy Kimmel’s show set to return to late night on Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren had harsh words for two media groups, including one pursuing an unprecedented merger, declining to air his show.
“This censorship of Kimmel reeks of corruption,” the Massachusetts senator wrote on X.
ABC ended Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension Monday after he was initially suspended “indefinitely” last week in the wake of the shooting death of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel, a well known presenter, has hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC since 2003.
“Many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk,” with “the MAGA gang” “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them,” Kimmel said in a monologue.
Kimmel is expected to return to the air Tuesday night, but Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, two groups of ABC affiliates, are refusing to carry his return. Together, they control about a quarter of ABC affiliates.
Sharing Tuesday’s news, Warren noted that Nexstar “needs Donald Trump’s approval for a $6 billion deal.” Nexstar, which owns the country’s largest local television broadcasting group reaching 220 million people, is set to acquire TEGNA, Nexstar announced last month.
The $6.2 billion acquisition will put Nexstar in 80 percent of U.S. television households, the company said in a press release. Currently, companies are capped at reaching no more than 39 percent of TV households, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
“The initiatives being pursued by the Trump administration offer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies that have unchecked reach and vast financial resources,” Nexstar Chairman and CEO Perry Sook said in a statement.
The deal is likely to move forward, as FCC chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump ally, has suggested that the FCC should reform “arcane artificial limits” on TV station ownership, according to Variety.
If the deal is approved, Warren said, it would “violat(e) the cap set by Congress to protect against monopolies.”
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
