News that ABC, a unit of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), suspended Jimmy Kimmel has shaken the entertainment industry, as President Donald Trump celebrates the move.
Kimmel Suspension To Hurt Disney, Help Comcast?
The decision by ABC to suspend Kimmel could impact viewership and the streaming sector.
Searches for "cancel Disney+" and "cancel Disney plus" hit 12-month highs according to data from Google Trends. Searches for "cancel Hulu" neared 12-month highs.
Elevated search volume for cancelling streaming plans often precedes potential streamer churn or subscriber losses for companies. Since some customers pay monthly or annually, quick Google searches can show consumers exactly how to cancel their memberships.
The decision to suspend Kimmel may win Disney points with the White House administration. However, it could cost the company viewership, advertising revenue, and streaming subscribers. The company may have had to consider whether suspending Kimmel would have resulted in greater subscriber losses and financial implications.
Trump, who often traded insults with Kimmel, said Thursday the firing was due to a "lack of talent."
"Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else," Trump said.
Those comments don't align with what media companies said about plans not to air Kimmel's talk show after his comments about Charlie Kirk.
While Disney may face a setback due to the backlash over the suspension and the potential future decision regarding the show and its time slot, a stock to watch is Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA).
Without Kimmel's show and the future end of the Stephen Colbert talk show on CBS, broadcast network NBC, owned by Comcast, suddenly finds itself in a favorable position to pick up viewers.
"The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" viewership could grow with Kimmel missing on the airwaves. That could lead to better advertiser rates and streaming subscribers for Comcast.
However, it remains unclear whether Comcast plans to address its own late-night lineup to keep in Trump’s good graces.
"Kimmel had Zero talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that's possible. That leaves Jimmy (Fallon) and Seth (Meyers), two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!," Trump posted on Truth Social.
Regional Television Impact
Multiple regional television companies announced plans to pull "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" from the air even ahead of ABC's suspension decision.
Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST) announced it would take the show off its ABC stations after the comments made by Kimmel about Charlie Kirk.
Sinclair Inc (NASDAQ:SBGI) said the suspension was not enough and called for ABC and the FCC to take things further. The callout comes after Sinclair also decided to remove the show from its stations.
The media company will air a Kirk remembrance special in place of Kimmel's time slot on ABC stations this Friday.
Sinclair called on Kimmel to issue an apology to the Kirk family and make a personal donation to the family and Turning Point USA.
Merger Impact
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr may have started the suspension calls with an appearance on the Benny Johnson podcast on Wednesday.
As head of the FCC, Carr has significant influence over which media deals are approved. That factor reportedly played a role in Nexstar's decision.
"Clearly Nexstar is sucking up to Carr," a telecom lawyer told the New York Post's "On The Money."
A merger between Nexstar and Tegna would expand the reach of the companies with 265 stations in 44 states and coverage of 80% of households.
Paramount and Skydance were tied up in getting a merger pushed through with the backdrop of Trump suing Paramount. Observers speculated that the settlement from Paramount may have led to the merger being approved to create Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ:PSKY). Carr insists that didn't factor into the equation.
The timing of the settlement and approval was notable to many. Paramount's settlement also led to late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert calling it a bribe, a comment which may have led to his firing from the company, with his show now set to end in May 2026.
FCC, ABC Fallout
The Writers Guild of America West, the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild have all released statements to support Kimmel, as reported by Variety.
"The right to speak our minds and to disagree with each other — to disturb, even — is at the very heart of what it means to be a free people. It is not to be denied," the Writers Guild said in a statement.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) launched a probe into the Trump administration, ABC and Sinclair over the Kimmel decision, as reported by The Hill.
Garcia, a member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, stated that his probe is related to defending the First Amendment.
A Deadline report highlighted a 2019 tweet from Carr discussing government censorship by the FCC.
"Should the government censor speech it doesn't like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of the ‘public interest,'" Carr tweeted previously.
According to its website, the organization's responsibilities and its "limited legal authority."
"The FCC has long held that ‘the public interest is best served by permitting free expression of views.' Rather than suppress speech, communications law and policy seeks to encourage responsive ‘counter speech' from others," the website reads.
The FCC website says its power to ban speech begins with the First Amendment.
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