Overview

• ABC said the late‑night program returns Tuesday, ending a six‑day suspension that followed Kimmel’s Sept. 15 monologue about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
• Nexstar and Sinclair confirmed they will keep preempting the show on their ABC affiliates, leaving roughly one in four U.S. households without local broadcast access and filling the slot with news or syndicated programming.
• Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr had warned of possible action and urged removal, a rare intervention that helped turn the dispute into a national free‑speech fight.
• Kimmel is expected to address the controversy on air, while affiliates signal future carriage may hinge on assurances about tone; Sinclair previously pressed for an apology and a donation to Kirk’s family and Turning Point USA.
• Nexstar’s proposed acquisition of Tegna and Sinclair’s deal explorations keep both companies’ FCC exposure in focus as discussions with ABC continue, with full episodes and clips available on Disney‑owned streaming platforms.