Overview
- Jimmy Kimmel announced Wednesday night that his planned interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico would not air on ABC and was instead posted on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! YouTube channel because of what he described as threats from the Federal Communications Commission against his show and ABC affiliates.
- Kimmel said the FCC had targeted the show, the network and local stations over ordinary guest bookings, and his decision was made to protect ABC’s local stations from potential regulatory fallout.
- The dispute follows an FCC policy change in January that said late-night and daytime talk shows must follow the equal-time rule and an April order requiring early license-renewal filings for ABC’s eight owned stations; Disney/ABC sued the commission in August and the FCC has asked a court to dismiss the suit.
- The White House has denied that FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened Kimmel, while FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez condemned what she called intimidation; networks point to a February case in which Stephen Colbert also moved a Talarico interview online after legal concern over FCC scrutiny.
- The change matters for voters because Talarico is in a close Texas Senate race against Ken Paxton, and the shift from broadcast to online reduces guaranteed over-the-air access while raising questions about the FCC’s use of license reviews and equal-time guidance to influence programming.