‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Returns to Sinclair, Nexstar ABC Affiliate Stations in Reversal

The Jimmy Kimmel extended blackout is seeing more daylight … starting tonight, ‘Live!’ is storming back onto all of Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s 38 ABC affiliate stations, the company declared Friday.

Sinclair said the past week had brought a flood of feedback — from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders — all pushing them to decide keeping Kimmel on-air is key to fostering respectful dialogue across a spectrum of differing voices.

Earlier this week, ABC announced Kimmel would return to the airwaves Tuesday night … but Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group — two media companies that own a significant amount of local affiliate stations — said they were both resisting bringing Jimmy back … leaving about 20% of the country without his show while talks with Disney dragged on.

As of mid-day Friday, Nexstar is still preempting Kimmel.

Sinclair also noted the troubling shooting at a Sacramento ABC affiliate last week in the statement. The news of Jimmy’s return drops just 3 days after Kimmel’s show returned to Disney’s ABC network, ending a nearly week-long suspension over his controversial comments about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer and President Trump… following a veiled threat from the chairman of the FCC.