☀️What ABC Actually Loses with Sinclair ‘NO’ on Kimmel
NETFLIX makes beer deal / MAGNOLIA buys TIFF action pic / SKYDANCE SPORTS gets Matt Rife pic
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.
Where I guess we’re now just waiting to see who the Jimmy Kimmel Live guests will be tonight?
BTW: If you went to bed after Monday Night Football last night — you missed a real banger Celebrity Family Feud between Real Housewives stars on ABC! 🔥
ALSO: Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed officially moved into the 12:35 a.m. slot on CBS last night, replacing Taylor Tomlinson reruns.
But ya gotta love Brendan Carr trying to, uh, clarify his comments on a right-wing podcast last week, stating at a Concordia Summit yesterday that quotes like this 👇 from the pod were not threats:
“When you see stuff like this, I mean, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
“There’s actions we can take on licensed broadcasters. It’s long past the time that...Comcast and Disney say ‘We’re not gonna run Kimmel anymore...because we licensed broadcasters are running the possibly of fines or licensed revocation from the FCC.’”
Here was the new positioning he was workshopping yesterday:
“There’s an easy way for parties to address that (concerns about ‘news distortion’) and work that out.
In the main, that takes place between local television stations that are licensed by the FCC and what we call national programmers like Disney. They work that out, and there doesn’t need to be any involvement of the FCC.”
“Now, if they don’t, there’s a way that is not as easy, which is someone can file a complaint at the FCC, and then the FCC, by law, as set up by Congress, has to adjudicate that complaint. And what I’ve been very clear in the context of the Kimmel episode, is the FCC, and myself in particular, have expressed no view on the ultimate merits.”
You may recall that Carr also called Kimmel’s monologue comments in question “some of the sickest conduct possible” on the right-wing pod last week.
He also tried out this gem:
“Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation that he’s in because of his ratings, not because of anything that’s happened at the federal government level.”
Yes, that’s right — DISNEY abruptly pulled JKL mid-week, a couple of weeks into the new season, because of his ratings, you see. ABC had also long wanted to expand the Celebrity Family Feud re-run business and decided last Wednesday was the ideal time.
So yeah — if you think this is over, I have a WARNER BROS. studio lot I’d love to sell you. Sadly, Carr had no emoji response this time for Oliver Darcy at Status when Oliver asked for comment about Kimmel returning to ABC.
SO: Now, I guess we also see if any website crashes are reported from everyone re-signing up for HULU and DISNEY+? 🤔
It is worth noting that DISNEY was 🤏 close to being able to mitigate the optics of this damage, at least somewhat, if it was indeed significant. The company already announced that Q3 2025 will be the last time it reports HULU and DIS+ subscriber numbers. #SoClose
YUP: Weapons director Zach Cregger confirmed that he and NLC are talking about a prequel idea he has around the Aunt Gladys character.
WELL: Celebrity liquor brands — you’ve had your moment. Ben Stiller has clearly learned from Alix Earle’s POPPI money that the real action is in soda. Meet STILLER’S SODA, a low-sugar (7 grams), low-calorie (30 calories) offering in 3 varietals: root beer, lemon-lime and Shirley Temple.
It’ll be available via AMAZON, select NYC retailers, WALMART starting in 2026, and I’m guessing on every Ben Stiller set’s crafty going forward.
THEN: Good news for Dr. Trump — the president can now fire members of the FTC for now, according to a new Supreme Court emergency order ruling.
A more detailed hearing of the case is scheduled to begin in December to settle the matter more permanently regarding whether independent federal regulators can be fired without cause by the U.S. president (presumably of either party).
BTW: The FTC’s case against AMAZON begins this week, alleging that the company tricked tens of millions of folks into signing up for PRIME, and then made it overly difficult for them to cancel.
BUT: A federal judge ruled against Trump’s order to stop work on that Rhode Island wind project that was already about 80% finished, and said that work can continue.
SO: NVIDIA made a deal to invest “up to” $100B in AI leader OPENAI in the coming years as more AI data centers are built out using NVIDIA processors (it’ll get a 2% stake in OPENAI with its first guaranteed $10B), with ORACLE helping in the building of those data centers via a $300B deal with OPENAI starting in 2027 (money that OPENAI currently, uh, does not have — although CHATGPT swears it’s good for it!).
THUS: The FACEBOOK/META, GOOGLE, APPLE and AMAZON quartet (4 of the 5 FAANG companies) that fired up the 2010s tech-driven stock market growth is getting a serious competitor for defining growth in the 2020s from the, uh . . . NOO companies (NVIDIA, ORACLE, OPENAI). I’ll just let that acronym stand for itself there.
SIDE NOTE: ORACLE CEO (and PSKY board member) Safra Catz is leaving the CEO role, but will stay on as Executive Vice Chair at the company.
UH: Anyone else getting Homer Simpson Mr. Plow ad vibes from this new CLAUDE AI brand campaign? What did I just watch here? (AI is gonna help people launch their own rockets? Great. 😳)
PLUS: That global NETFLIX reach is really paying off, as British music star Harry Styles entered the Berlin Marathon as “Sted Sarandos” — it seems the name Dave Saslav was already taken. Kudos on the under 3-hour running time, Sted!
THEN: Mackenzie Scott is still showing the boys (and her ex) how it’s done — she donated $70M to the UNCF, the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships to minority students.
AND: Sadly, James Van Der Beek couldn’t make the big Dawson’s Creek benefit cast reunion stage reading of the pilot last night due to health reasons, but he did send a nice video to the crowd in NYC.
FINALLY: Wishing those readers observing Rosh Hashanah a day hopefully filled with meaningful time with family and friends.
SINCLAIR is still a ‘NO’ on Kimmel — What is ABC actually losing?
First, there’s no word from America’s largest local TV station owner, NEXSTAR, about carrying Kimmel tonight — but the day is still young, and place your bets on the company waiting to see how tonight goes. Hopefully their top execs aren’t based in D.C., where the show won’t air.
BTW: NEXSTAR and TEGNA announced that they are targeting their $6.2B deal to close by the 2nd half of 2026 . . . uh, subject to the FCC drastically changing TV station ownership rules that have been in place for 2 decades, among other approvals.
But in terms of NEXSTAR getting more reach clout in America, that wouldn’t happen for about another 9-ish months.
Now over to SINCLAIR — the country’s 3rd largest local TV station group said its 38 ABC affiliates will not air Jimmy Kimmel Live when the show returns tonight.
What ratings gold will SINCLAIR stations be airing instead? More local news.
Enjoy the ratings bonanza from the 90 minutes of local news at 11 p.m. that audiences have long been clamoring for!
I’m sure the D.C. audiences served by SINCLAIR’s ABC station aren’t interested in hearing what Jimmy Kimmel has to say tonight anyway. Way to best serve your local communities, SINCLAIR. 👍
See ya on YOUTUBE, D.C. crowd.
We’ll see how long this lasts, but if SINCLAIR sticks to its proverbial guns — it has to find programming that matches the audience that Kimmel was doing for them. It’s not like ABC gives SINCLAIR a discount if it refuses to eat what’s for dinner, so to speak.
And look — hey, maybe the additional local news programming will be a hit! Ahem.
SO: How much JKL audience is DISNEY likely losing here with SINCLAIR’s no-show, and how much revenue is at stake . . . should this become a more permanent thing at SINCLAIR?