Nexstar CEO Perry Sook is back in the news since he, reportedly, was the one who gave the order to his local TV stations to drop the late-night Jimmy Kimmel Live broadcast on Disney’s ABC TV network. According to The Wall Street Journal, the 67-year-old Sook likes to keep a “low profile,” and declined to comment on Kimmel’s show, but VideoAge recorded at least two of Sook’s past interviews — one in 2019 on the occasion of his acquisition of Tribune’s TV stations, and the other at NATPE 2020 where he actually outlined his vision for the TV business.
Sook’s reluctance to talk to the media can now be attributed to the fact that he’s seeking the U.S. government’s approval for Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of local TV station group Tegna, which could be problematic since some stations from both groups operate in the same markets. Nexstar also owns The CW TV network. Sook reportedly dropped Kimmel’s show from his stations because he considered it too controversial.
When Kimmel returned to the air on Tuesday, September 23, after ABC briefly suspended his Monday-to-Friday show on Wednesday, September 17, close to 6.3 million viewers tuned in (normally, the show averages 1.8 million viewers). Sook returned Kimmel to air on his stations on Friday, September 26.
Kimmel’s show also recorded 15 million views on the show’s YouTube channel, where it was possibly watched by viewers who couldn’t watch it on Nexstar’s and Sinclair’s local TV stations that dropped it (combined, their TV stations cover 20 percent of the country).
Kimmel’s show is also available on DirecTV, Disney+, and Hulu.
Sinclair has also returned Kimmel’s show to air on its 38 TV stations affiliated with ABC.
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