What Kimmel's Suspension Reminds PR Pros About TV Ownership

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel returned to the air, ending a brief but high-profile suspension that dominated headlines.

I’m MurphyEpson’s Senior Media and Content Manager, and part of my job is to understand the media landscape – who owns which stations, how programming reaches viewers and what it means for our relationships with journalists.

The Kimmel episode is a good opportunity to step back and talk about something often overlooked: TV station ownership and why it matters.

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What Happened: A Factual Timeline

Here’s how everything unfolded:

• September 17 – Two major station groups, Nexstar and Sinclair, said they would not carry Jimmy Kimmel Live! on their ABC affiliates
• Same day – Disney, which owns ABC, suspended the show indefinitely
• September 18–22 – Affiliates filled Kimmel’s time slot with reruns, local news or other content
• September 22 – Disney announced Kimmel would return to the air
• September 23 – The show came back on ABC, but Nexstar and Sinclair (which together own dozens of ABC affiliates) announced they would continue preempting the program

Disney made one decision, but two of the largest station groups in America made another. Which brings us to the bigger picture.

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Networks vs. Stations: Who’s Really in Charge?

When you flip on ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX, you’re not just watching the network. You’re also tuning in through a local station. And that station typically is not owned by the network.

Networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) supply national programming like Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Stations are owned by separate companies that license the content and add their own local news (Nexstar and Sinclair).

The Federal Communications Commission – an independent U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications – oversees a few key things:

• Who can own stations
• How many stations a company can control
• Which obligations must stations fulfill

So when Disney decided to bring Kimmel back, that didn’t guarantee you’d see him on your local ABC affiliate. Station groups like Nexstar and Sinclair had the power to say no. And they did.

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The Big Station Owners

A handful of companies now dominate local TV in the U.S.:

• Nexstar Media Group – Owns more than 200 outlets nationwide (Nexstar also owns The CW network and is in the process of acquiring TEGNA in a $6.2 billion deal, pending FCC approval)

• TEGNA – Owns about 60 stations, many affiliated with NBC and CBS

• Sinclair Broadcast Group – Owns nearly 200 stations and is known for distributing “must-run” commentaries across affiliates

• Disney (ABC) – Owns only a few ABC stations directly, in big markets like New York and LA (most ABC affiliates are owned by other groups)

• Paramount Global (CBS) – Owns some CBS stations, but again, many are affiliates

• Fox Corporation – Owns some FOX stations but relies heavily on affiliate groups like Nexstar and Sinclair

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Why Ownership Shapes Coverage

Why does this matter to media and PR professionals? Because no matter how you feel about the issues at hand, we need to know who pulls the strings. 

Ownership influences:

• Editorial tone – Some groups require their anchors to run specific commentary pieces (these are called “must-runs”; meaning ownership groups require affiliates to air them)

• Story priorities – Local newsrooms juggle community needs with corporate mandates or pressure

• Audience trust – Viewers trust local anchors more than national figures, giving owners enormous influence

Keep in mind, consolidation (like the anticipated Nexstar-TEGNA merger) is reducing the number of owners, so fewer voices control more of what we see.

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The Pressures at Play

The Kimmel situation reminded us of the pressures facing station owners:

• Economic pressures – Ad revenues are shrinking, competition from digital platforms is fierce and consolidation is a survival strategy

• Political pressures – Keeping in mind the landscape we noted above, we can see how national polarization filters into local stations

• Regulatory pressures – The FCC plays a central role, both in approving mergers (like Nexstar and TEGNA) and in signaling what’s acceptable for broadcast

The result is a media landscape where ownership decisions ripple down to what viewers see – and don’t see.

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Why This Matters for Media and PR

For those of us in media relations, understanding ownership isn’t optional. The same story may be received differently depending on whether you pitch a Disney-owned ABC station in Los Angeles or a Sinclair-owned ABC station in Ohio.

I’m a former broadcast journalist, and I do think it’s important to note that many journalists have integrity and simply want to tell a good story, free of pressure, to their neighbors. But we would be naive to ignore how the ownership hierarchy works, who signs the checks and how the lights stay on.

Knowing who owns the mic helps us anticipate how stories will be framed, which voices will be elevated and which ones might be sidelined. It also helps us get the most out of a story idea.

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