<\/p>\n
There is a reason the Boston Tea Party resonates 250 years after that fateful night in 1773. An evening where a group of bold patriots stood up in defiance against institutional tyranny. In protest of the Tea Act, they raided the British East India Company ships, throwing overboard pounds of tea, sparking excitement for revolution across the colonies. In the same way today, both Nexstar and Sinclair have raised their fists and said, \u201cWe will no longer tolerate the lies and disrespect spewed by Jimmy Kimmel.\u201d<\/p>\n
No longer will Nexstar and Sinclair subject their communities to the garbage content produced by the liberal media<\/a> and Hollywood. Disney<\/a> would have to go elsewhere to sell its late-night show. Realizing they could not sell Kimmel<\/a> through its other channels because Kimmel\u2019s show was a ratings loser, Disney decided to indefinitely suspend the show.<\/p>\n These TV<\/a> affiliates all have lawyers and accountants. They know that, in addition to the lack of ratings, Kimmel\u2019s unfounded rants could also be on the wrong side of the Federal Communications Commission<\/a>\u2019s public interest standard. Broadcast television and radio operate on the spectrum that is managed by the FCC for use by licensees.<\/p>\n Similar to when you board an airplane, you agree to comply with Federal Aviation Administration<\/a> rules, such as no smoking, these broadcast stations must also operate in compliance with the FCC\u2019s public interest standard. Growing up, you might have noticed that network TV didn\u2019t show gratuitous nudity or vulgarity. Well, those were not examples of gross government censorship<\/a>. No, those were the guardrails with which stations had to operate to stay in compliance.<\/p>\n Those TV network executives were also quite aware that on too many occasions during the Trump era, late-night hosts were willing to cross that public interest standard line. Both\u00a0Stephen Colbert<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kimmel<\/a>\u00a0had to apologize multiple times for irrational rants that crossed the line of acceptable content for the airwaves. As production costs skyrocketed and ratings continued to crater, the reality that this current generation of late-night TV is failing has become clear. Ironically, straight shooter Greg Gutfeld\u2019s Fox News show has been\u00a0lapping the competition in viewership<\/a>. Maybe it is just a coincidence that the one show in touch with its viewers is doing well.<\/p>\n Now, some misinformed libertarians<\/a> and Pod Save America<\/em> types will claim this entire situation is an example of censorship. Yes, it is true that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr did appear on a podcast and reiterate what every lawyer who knew the FCC\u2019s address was already aware of: that the FCC can absolutely exercise its remit to investigate Kimmel\u2019s monologue as a breach of the public interest standard.<\/p>\n If the FCC did find that this was worthy of a fine, it would not have been Kimmel who paid for it, but the licensees themselves who would have had to foot the bill and risk their licenses being pulled. Those affiliates made the best decision for themselves. They saw the market forces<\/a> at play and recognized that the possible costs of Kimmel were piling up fast.<\/p>\n This entire episode highlights a larger debate: an initiative by the FCC to relax an onerous regulation that has long hindered local broadcasters and TV affiliates such as Nexstar and Sinclair. For decades, the FCC has had a rule that limits how many U.S. television households a single company can reach through its broadcast stations. This cap is set\u00a0really low<\/a>, at only 39% of American households, which means that conservative media companies such as Nexstar and Sinclair cannot compete with streaming services such as YouTube TV or big networks such as ABC or CBS.<\/p>\n