The news: “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” returned to ABC Tuesday night after a nearly weeklong suspension by ABC and Disney.
Kimmel’s return may appear to turn the page on a brief-but-heated conflict for legacy media, but it’s only the beginning. TV distributors Nexstar and Sinclair have said they will air other programming over the show, cutting it out of local ad revenues at a time when linear TV's.
Not over yet: Beyond revealing rifts between TV networks and distributors, the Kimmel saga is the most visible conflict in legacy media and TV’s latest chapter–one where politics are a much more direct business consideration.
The Trump administration has made clear its willingness to pressure media organizations, and moves from multiple companies signal the industry’s willingness to comply.
- Paramount Skydance, which is eyeing yet another mega-merger, recently appointed Trump ally Kenneth Weinstein as ombudsman at CBS to address “complaints of bias.” Earlier this year, the company settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. Late night host Stephen Colbert called the settlement a bribe on-air; days later, CBS canceled Colbert’s show. (CBS cited financial reasons for ending the show.)
- Nexstar’s stance on Kimmel could also be a move to win political favor; The company announced in August that it would acquire Tegna $6.2 billion in a deal that still needs approval from the FTC. Trump’s FTC has put political riders on mergers before, like when it required IPG and Omnicom to agree to block political ad boycotts earlier this year.
Our take: The responses to Trump administration pressures reflect a media industry that will act quickly to avoid becoming a political target, but one that is also willing to lower its head for business interests.
For some, appeasing a bellicose federal government is also a survival strategy; struggling legacy media may not have the deep pocketbooks necessary to fight a costly legal battle, as seen in June when the Global Alliance for Responsible Media ceased operations after Elon Musk sued the group.