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After threatening ABC over Kimmel, FCC chair may eliminate TV ownership caps

Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the Republican-majority commission, criticized Carr’s fight against ABC in her comments at today’s FCC meeting. Carr’s FCC “seiz[ed] on a late-night comedian’s comments as a pretext to punish speech it disliked” in “an act of clear government intimidation,” she said.

Gomez said that “corporate behemoths who own large swaths of local stations across the country” continued blocking Kimmel for several days after the show returned “because these billion-dollar media companies have business before the FCC. They will need regulatory approval of their transactions and are pushing to reduce regulatory guardrails so they can grow even bigger.”

Local stations are “trapped in the middle as these massive companies impose their will and their values upon local communities,” Gomez continued. “This precise example neatly encapsulates the danger of allowing vast and unfettered media consolidation. This could drastically alter the media ecosystem and the number of voices that are a part of it.”

National ownership cap

Gomez didn’t vote against today’s action. She said the NPRM “is required by statute” and that she supports “seeking comment on these very important issues.” But Gomez said she’s concerned about consolidation limiting the variety of news and viewpoints on local TV stations.

Congress set the national ownership cap at 39 percent in 2004 and exempted the cap from the FCC’s required quadrennial review of media ownership rules. There is debate over whether the FCC has the authority to eliminate the national limit, and Gomez argued that “given the prior Congressional action, I believe that only Congress can raise the cap.”

The FCC’s “regulatory structure is in large part based on a balance of power between national networks with incentives to serve national interests and local broadcasters with incentives to serve their local communities,” Gomez said. That balance could be disrupted by a single company owning enough broadcast stations to reach the majority of US households, she said.

“In the past two weeks, the public has raised serious concerns that large station groups made programming decisions to serve their national corporate interests, not their communities of license,” Gomez said. “What is the impact of letting them get even bigger?”

Sinclair gets nothing it asked for, puts Jimmy Kimmel back on anyway

jimmy kimmel, nexstar, Policy, sinclair / Mike M. / September 27, 2025

Conservative broadcaster Sinclair is putting Jimmy Kimmel Live! back on the air. In a statement today, Sinclair said it will end its preemption of the show on its ABC affiliates starting tonight, even though ABC and owner Disney haven’t accepted its request for an ombudsman and other changes.

Facing the threat of lost advertising dollars, Sinclair said it “received thoughtful feedback from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders representing a wide range of perspectives.” Nexstar separately announced an end to its blackout of Kimmel shortly after this article published.

Sinclair said its decision to preempt Kimmel “was independent of any government interaction or influence.” Sinclair’s preempting of Kimmel last week came just as Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr said TV station owners that didn’t preempt the show could lose their FCC licenses.

Sinclair last week said it wouldn’t air Kimmel on its stations “until formal discussions are held with ABC regarding the network’s commitment to professionalism and accountability.” Sinclair at the time praised Carr for his stance against Kimmel and urged the FCC to “take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.”

Sinclair also announced it would air a special in remembrance of Kirk in Kimmel’s time slot, but then decided to put it on YouTube instead.

Ombudsman and other requests “not yet adopted”

Sinclair said it didn’t get anything it asked for in its discussions with ABC. The company’s statement today said:

In our ongoing and constructive discussions with ABC, Sinclair proposed measures to strengthen accountability, viewer feedback, and community dialogue, including a network-wide independent ombudsman. These proposals were suggested as collaborative efforts between the ABC affiliates and the ABC network. While ABC and Disney have not yet adopted these measures, and Sinclair respects their right to make those decisions under our network affiliate agreements, we believe such measures could strengthen trust and accountability.

Our decision to preempt this program was independent of any government interaction or influence. Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations. While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content.

Sinclair’s request for an ombudsman is reminiscent of Carr requiring an ombudsman at CBS in exchange for a merger approval. Carr described the CBS ombudsman as a “bias monitor.”

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