Jimmy Kimmel Randy Holmes/Disney Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text When ABC suspended late night host Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year, a local affiliate revolt was at the heart of the decision. In a previously unreported FCC filing, Disney cites Kimmel's preemption and his weeklong absence from network TV as proof that the current FCC rules governing the relationship between networks and affiliates "work as intended." To say the status quo between networks and their local station partners has become strained would be an understatement. Owners of local TV stations, including giants like Nexstar and Sinclair and smaller mom and pop station owners across the country have taken aim at their network partners, angry over ever-rising affiliation fees, and how entertainment companies like Disney and NBCUniversal have pursued streaming deals. Related Stories Business Warner Bros. Discovery Rejects Paramount's $108 Billion Hostile Bid, Citing "Significant Risks" Business Gov. Phil Murphy on New Jersey's Two Big Studios Competing for Warner Bros: "May the Best Team Win" Now the FCC is taking action, with chairman Brendan Carr launching an inquiry into the network-affiliate relationships, suggesting that networks are "exerting undue influence or control" over affiliate stations in a way that undermines the "needs of their local communities." The Jimmy Kimmel preemptions were simply the most public example of that discontent, with Nexstar and Sinclair, two of the largest owners of local TV stations (including ABC stations in major markets like Washington D.C. and Seattle), warning Disney that they were going to preempt the show in the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk, and outrage of comments Kimmel made in the aftermath. Disney executives held a call with affiliates to try and calm their nerves, before ultimately suspending him. "Over the last 30 years, ABC affiliated stations have exercised their right to preempt programming and will continue to do so without FCC intervention," Disney told the FCC in the Dec. 10 filing, citing preemptions of Kimmel, NYPD Blue, and Saving Private Ryan. "These and other examples make clear that the regime is working in compliance with the FCC's rules and that no further regulatory intervention is warranted." Sinclair, it should be noted, privately told Erika Kirk that it would try and get an apology from Kimmel over his comments. In filings over the last week, Disney, Paramount Skydance, NBCUniversal and Fox Corp. have made arguments (sometimes in apocalyptic terms) about how FCC intervention in the affiliate relationship, to quote NBCU's filing, "may cause the demise of broadcasting." Paramount argued that it would merely be "counterproductive," while Fox argued that it would only "hurt the public interest." But the owners of local stations, in a joint filing from the Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC affiliate associations, argue to the FCC that "decisive action" is needed, and fast, "to recalibrate the lopsided Network-Affiliate dynamic in a fair manner." "That relationship is intended to be, and for many years was, a mutually beneficial one that served both the Networks, which benefitted from the national distribution system for their programming, and the Affiliates, which were the exclusive local distributors of sought-after and highly valued Network sports and entertainment programming," the affiliate groups write in their filing. "The ultimate beneficiary of that balanced system was the American people, who received free, over-the-air access to both national sports and entertainment programming as well as local news and community-focused programming via their local television stations. Today, that once beneficial relationship is seriously out of balance." The state of network-affiliate relations, Kimmel, and other issues are sure to come up at a U.S. Senate FCC oversight hearing, which is slated to be held today. Carr is expected to testify, alongside fellow commissioners Olivia Trusty and Anna Gomez. Of course, preemptions are relatively small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, despite all the headlines generated by Kimmel's suspension. The biggest sticking points remain those contracts, the ever-escalating fees, and the rise of streaming platforms, some of which the major media companies own. And it comes with the backdrop of tech companies getting ever bigger,m and securing ever more advertising dollars. Big Tech companies, it should be noted, were a target of both the affiliates and the networks in their FCC filings. "Ultimately, the networks and affiliates reach mutually beneficial arrangements because it is in their best interests to do so. Together, we are the national broadcast television industry and we have never faced a more challenging competitive environment," Fox told th