[gooseus]

> Disney reinstating Kimmel doesn't necessarily mean his show will immediately appear on all ABC-affiliated networks. Conservative broadcaster Sinclair said last week that "regardless of ABC's plans for the future of the program, Sinclair intends not to return Jimmy Kimmel Live! to our air until we are confident that appropriate steps have been taken to uphold the standards expected of a national broadcast platform."

> Station owner Nexstar helped pressure Disney into suspending Kimmel's show last week when it announced its ABC-affiliated stations would not air the show "for the foreseeable future."

This is Disney doing damage control for their streaming platforms and other properties while Kimmel is still censored from a large % of audience he used to reach.

I hope he comes back with a show that burns Trump and Carr to the ground and dares them to try something like that again.

[croes]

But can Disney do anything about the censoring by Nextstar and Sinclair?

[fuzzfactor]

>Disney reinstates Jimmy Kimmel

It couldn't happen to more deserving citizens.

Now this is real patriotism if the First Amendment can quickly prevail, over lesser isms and their anti-American proponents.

Right now, ABC only live-streams on the open web (no Disney+ or anything needed) the shows from their national studios and local affiliates that are produced in-house, mainly from the news departments. Once the news is over each time, on the internet you only get more live news from the web anchor's control room desk, or something like reruns of investigative stories.

Maybe it would have been quite an ordeal to obtain web rights for the entertainment shows (that's a lot), or perhaps they have been holding out to collect extra revenue from those advertisers before showing them online. A year or two ago there were not yet ads on the web during the broadcast news breaks, only a spinner on a splash screen until the ad was over. It wasn't really too bad like that. Now there are ads but I don't know if they are the same as the broadcast ones.

Regardless, this might be a good time to flush it out like it could have been already if they set their mind to it.

Get Kimmel and his advertisers, guests, and musicians to agree to go live on the web and on the air simultaneously so anybody on the web can watch it like they used to do in real-time regardless of whether their local affiliate carries it on the air or not.

Doesn't Walt Disney have an entertainment lawyer or two that could handle this if the right geek was supervising the sprint? Attorneys pulling their weight, with geeks doing the engineering full stop and it could be ready in a week.

This would also be a good time to make special deals with other entertainment powerhouses to get artists like Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen to appear who can help build popularity beyond the ability of the haters. And not stop until it's been accomplished.

Maybe a worldwide audience would compensate for a loss in local broadcast consumers.

Never know until you try.

If at all possible they need to throw a grassroots monkey wrench into any media merger plans for the foreseeable future too.

[axiolite]

Sinclair blocking Kimmel's show was the first thought on my mind when I saw this headline.

If Disney had any sense at all, they would have realized back when Sinclair was first forcing all their affiliates to air right-wing propaganda,* that their association with Sinclair is an existential threat.

Back then, they should have started dropping their affiliation with Sinclar one tower at a time, as they secure alternative broadcast arrangements in each area. Starting to do it now is better late than never, but I bet Disney execs are too clueless and spineless to stand up to Sinclair is any real way at all, in part because it will cost them a few $$$.

* https://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/19/sinclair.kerry/

[_DeadFred_]

If you don't think companies like Sinclair should have so much power, contact the FCC and let them know the Nexstar merger shouldn't go through.

https://www.fcc.gov/transaction/nexstar-tribune

[cmxch]

Unfortunately trying to drop Sinclair stations piecemeal (or otherwise) would break enough markets to attract regulatory attention.

One just does not drop ABC from a market and expect nobody to notice.

[axiolite]

I clearly said: "as they secure alternative broadcast arrangements in each area"

TV broadcast tower agreements are not ossified. Every year some station switches from one to another. Comcast buying NBC led to quite a spate of that in several markets. It can be slightly disruptive on the fringes (like Comcast/NBC*) or it can go unnoticed or even improve reception.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbVXUaDAcBg