Overview

• FCC chair Brendan Carr publicly urged broadcasters to “take action” on Jimmy Kimmel, suggesting that inaction would mean “additional work for the FCC ahead.”
• ABC has kept Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air since Wednesday as affiliates including Nexstar and Sinclair preempted the program, with both companies facing or contemplating transactions that could require favorable FCC review.
• Commissioner Anna M. Gomez condemned the pressure campaign as the most alarming First Amendment attack in recent memory and warned that broadcasters are self-censoring to avoid regulatory friction.
• Legal analysts note that revoking a major station’s license over content is unlikely and would face years of litigation, with no large broadcaster losing a license since the 1980s for anything other than serious misconduct.
• Observers point to the Paramount–Skydance episode—where Paramount paid $16 million to resolve a Trump lawsuit before the deal advanced—as evidence of transactional leverage, rooted in long-standing precedents that afford broadcasters narrower speech protections.