mtutiger

Sinclair owns stations in Rochester, NY, St Louis and the Champaign/Urbana/Peoria/Springfield markets. Their ownership leans red, but it's more mixed than is given credit for. Nexstar is similar, they own stations all across Upstate New York (Syracuse, Binghamton Albany), Hartford CT, and Richmond VA. I don't see any way how this doesn't harm all of them more than Disney/ABC running Kimmel harms Disney.

There ya go. Make Sinclair the one to deprive the people of their entertainment choices.

I certainly understand the logic that led them to do what they did, but the reality is that institutions that bend to this government also risk retaliation from the consumers as well. And there's a point where the cost outweighs whatever gain is made from giving in. No doubt this is what happened here. The bigger lesson for institutions here is that giving into the demands of a tyrant doesn't make him go away... ABC settled a lawsuit they would have won for $15 million dollars, but ultimately that didn't make the threat go away. And in the process, they alienated wide swaths of the customer base. Very few elites seem to understand this. Luckily for me, my Governor (Pritzker) is one of them. I hope they see what happened here and recalibrate and understand that this administration is there is much more to be gained by standing up to them versus folding like a cheap tent at the first sign of trouble

This isn't bordering on idolatry... it *is* idolatry

This would imply that pressure exerted on the advertisers was the reason they pulled it

But why wouldn't they just run it anyway?

On this front, ever since this controversy has started, have kinda found it bizarre the idea that Sinclair or Nexstar would have *that* much leverage over Disney (ABC's parent company). Particularly Sinclair, who isn't even party to a merger at the moment These companies own assets (over the air stations) whose time and importance have peaked, and the value that Disney has in terms of it's media empire is wrapped up in ESPN and it's sports holdings over anything else. People tune into ABC-affiliated Sinclair stations for ABC's programming... They don't tune in simply because they are owned by Sinclair. Sinclair can threaten Jimmy Kimmel and ABC all they want, but what are they gonna do when they don't get their way... pull college football off the airways? What's the endgame exactly?

People want to avoid the conclusion out of false hope, but do need to consider the possibility that they may be getting heat (ie. advertisers, employees, perhaps even ABC)

Front page of the Chicago Tribune... Jim Edgar (RIP) aside, just a firehose of catastrophe

Their demands to Jimmy Kimmel look a lot more toothless after this. Generally wonder what changed

He posts these lies yet repeatedly ignores every single time it is pointed out that the FCC Chairman clearly used the power of the state to repress speech that the administration doesn't like. And people wonder why it's pointless to engage

That's incredible

Do think you indirectly get at the idea that these actions may be more effective at diminishing the value of legacy media even moreso over anything else.

Yep, goes back to the point that keeps being made (and ignored) by a different poster: none of this happens without the weight of the federal government pushing to stifle speech

The Cardinal should repent.

Ted spends more time podcasting than legislating at this point... He understands the precedent being set.

Wow

This is getting really close to idolatry at this point...

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/jimmy-kimmel-out-abc-charlie-kirk-comments-1235430078/ Earlier on Wednesday, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, publicly called on licensed broadcasters to stop airing Kimmel’s show. “I think that it’s really sort of past time that a lot of these licensed broadcasters themselves push back on Comcast and Disney and say, ‘Listen, we are going to preempt, we are not going to run Kimmel anymore, until you straighten this out because we, we licensed broadcaster, are running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC if we continue to run content that ends up being a pattern of news distortion,’” Carr said Wednesday, speaking with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr added. “These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Care to address this? The FCC Chairman's comments are the *entire* reason this situation happened. There are no emergency meetings, no phone calls, etc. without Carr's comments.

As has been discussed previously, actually firing him probably opens up a viable 1A lawsuit as well (given the FCC's statements on the matter)

Still think if the administration goes down the path they are on (at least the one set forth by the President) that they will lose leverage.... you can't just take large chunks of ABC's viewing audience away without the public noticing. The bigger question remains whether Disney wants the headache of even owning ABC, and dealing with the news division, going forward. They really don't need it.

Beyond that, you saw the administration go *beyond* Kimmel today in their statements - you saw Carr going after "The View" and Trump saying that stations that criticize him should be harassed or have their licenses pulled. If you start going after shows that normal people watch (I'd consider Kimmel one of those, but The View is another demographic), that is going to raise negative backlash as well. And impact ratings. It's not an endless well of leverage that the administration has here. And ABC is owned by Disney, who absolutely could go toe-to-toe with them if they really wanted to (particularly given that they own ESPN).