Jimmy Kimmel's suspension fits squarely into the FCC's new pressure playbook

"Kimmel, a late-night host who's long criticized and mocked President Donald Trump, had his namesake show on ABC suspended "indefinitely" after his comments about Charlie Kirk, the right-wing influencer who was killed in public last week. Carr, a Trump appointee, suggested on a conservative podcast on Wednesday that owners of local broadcast stations that license ABC programming should pressure the network to cancel Kimmel. He said broadcasters who don't act "in the public interest" could get their licenses reviewed."

"It wasn't the first time Carr had picked a fight with a major broadcaster. The FCC held up Skydance's acquisition of Paramount for months after Trump sued CBS News, a subsidiary of Paramount, claiming that a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris was deceptively edited. Paramount settled for $16 million in July. The FCC approved the deal a few weeks later."

"With Kimmel, Carr once again got the result he wanted. Hours after Carr's critique, ABC pulled Kimmel's show after pressure from two major companies - Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair - that own local ABC affiliate stations. An FCC commissioner pressuring local broadcasters into speaking up against a network is like "nothing we've confronted before in our modern day," said Al Tompkins, a journalism professor at Syracuse University."

Brendan Carr, FCC chair and Trump appointee, urged local broadcast owners to pressure ABC to cancel Jimmy Kimmel after Kimmel's comments about Charlie Kirk. ABC suspended Kimmel's show indefinitely following pressure from major station owners Nexstar and Sinclair. Carr previously delayed Skydance's acquisition of Paramount following a Trump lawsuit over a CBS News interview; Paramount later settled for $16 million and the FCC approved the deal weeks later. Carr has used FCC authority to threaten license reviews, hold up mergers, and open probes into diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, demonstrating an aggressive use of regulatory power.

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