Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 266 posts

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#111

Post by lupusreal »

gtirloni wrote: post #87
IncreasePosts wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you have here has nothing to do with the law, and has to do with power. Disney willingly pulled Kimmel off their own networks, because a major distributor of their content(Sinclair) threatened to not air it, which accounts for about 20% of the viewership of the show.

Why did Sinclair threaten to not air it?

Maybe they were coerced by the government. Or maybe they canceled Kimmel for the same reason the Trump administration was pissing themselves over Kimmel, because Trump and Sinclair are politically aligned and therefore inclined to act in similar ways anyway...

> Sinclair's stations have been known for featuring news content and programming that promote conservative political positions. They have been involved in various controversies surrounding politically motivated programming decisions,[172][173] such as news coverage and specials during the lead-ups to elections that were in support of the Republican Party.[174][175][172]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Broadcast_Group#Polit...

My read is they weren't coerced, but did as Trump desired because they like Trump. Either way, it should go to court.

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#112

Post by jalapenod »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #57
gtirloni wrote: post #14

I'm not a US citizen so take what I write below with a grain of salt. I always thought the US to be a stronghold of democracy and free speech. I know, it's a naive view and we know how huge companies and corrupt politicians can subvert the system. But still, I thought it had a decent law system that, although imperfect like any other system, kept things from going back to the dark ages. I don't believe that anymore a…

What you have here has nothing to do with the law, and has to do with power. Disney willingly pulled Kimmel off their own networks, because a major distributor of their content(Sinclair) threatened to not air it, which accounts for about 20% of the viewership of the show.

[dead]

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#113

Post by torton »

gtirloni wrote: post #87
IncreasePosts wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you have here has nothing to do with the law, and has to do with power. Disney willingly pulled Kimmel off their own networks, because a major distributor of their content(Sinclair) threatened to not air it, which accounts for about 20% of the viewership of the show.

Why did Sinclair threaten to not air it?

"In recent months, both broadcasters have announced their intent to buy or sell local TV assets — Nexstar is in the process of effectuating a $6 billion merger with peer broadcaster TEGNA, and Sinclair is executing on a mixture of station acquisitions and sales — all of which require the approval of the FCC."

https://thedesk.net/2025/09/nexstar-sinclair-jimmy-kimmel-fc...

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#114

Post by mallowdram »

lupusreal wrote: post #106
martythemaniak wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's really pathetic about the current situation is that McCarthyism was at least rooted in the fear that Soviets would bomb and kill people, which given Russia's conduct in Ukraine and other places was well-founded. The current authoritarian backsliding is because... woke? Truly the dumbest of timelines.

[flagged]

It means meaning has collapsed, and it collapses because our meanings come in word-form, and those are arbitrary. We can make them mean whatever we want them to mean, and then keep saying them. That's what's going on.

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#115

Post by ajross »

erulabs wrote: post #109

A lot of things can be true at the same time: - The FCC shouldn't be involved in content moderation, and the FCC Chair is obviously on an authoritarian power trip. - What Kimmel said was wrong (assuming you believe Utah state investigators) and deeply irresponsible and inflammatory. - Clearly the market was already deciding that Kimmel's show is irrelevant (Nielsen ratings quite clear on that). - The FCC is only invo…

> - What Kimmel said was wrong (assuming you believe Utah state investigators) and deeply irresponsible and inflammatory.

Was it really though? Paraphrased, Kimmel said that the killer was a republican. He had a republican background, but it didn't motivate the killing which didn't seem to have any particular ideology beyond (maybe) trans identity politics and/or edgelord memery. So yeah, that was wrong.

But if that's "irresponsible and inflammatory", then isn't it equally so to blame "democrats" or "the left", also groups with which Robinson has no documented affiliation? And we can all agree that this is happening pervasively on the right, at all levels.

The double standard here seems troublesome to me, and likely deliberate. Which, I'll add, what actually the point Kimmel was trying to make.

> now I get to do 3 hours of reading to say "it never really existed in broadcast television and also yes, this is bad, but not nearly as bad as you think" and boom now I'm the fascist

You're not a fascist, but you do seem to be sort of an apologist. Doesn't the linked article directly refute the "not nearly as bad as you think" bit? It's happening again!

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#116

Post by lupusreal »

etchalon wrote: post #99
lupusreal wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's my take. Its worse this time because it's coming from the government, but in a sense that makes it actually an opportunity to fight it in court (and they absolutely should.) In any case, the rules of engagement have been clear for years: if we don't like you, then we're coming for your livelihood.

It's not "worse because it's coming from the government". The fact it is coming from the government is what makes it terrifying.

You seem to contradict yourself. It's worse, yes? Your first sentence says no while your second sentence says yes.

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#117

Post by jrs235 »

gtirloni wrote: post #87
IncreasePosts wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you have here has nothing to do with the law, and has to do with power. Disney willingly pulled Kimmel off their own networks, because a major distributor of their content(Sinclair) threatened to not air it, which accounts for about 20% of the viewership of the show.

Why did Sinclair threaten to not air it?

Because Sinclair needs the FCC to approve a merger for them. They read between the lines and know that to get it approved they need to apply pressure on ABC to can Kimmel to appease someone.

I wish the law that restricted the number of public stations/licenses a single entity could own was still in place. It was created to prevent what's happening now, silencing of varied and different ideas, views, and opinions.

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#118

Post by biophysboy »

convolvatron wrote: post #107
biophysboy wrote: post #55

Beyond the obvious state censorship issues here, its worth noting that Kimmel's monologue on Sep 15 appeared before add'l evidence (texts, discord chats) came out about Tyler Robinson's incoherent beliefs. This means that Kimmel's implied accusation (Tyler was MAGA) was a real possibility at the time, rather than willful misinformation.

I took his statement to be deeper than MAGA vs liberal. Regardless of the spin, the view that political opponents are existential risks to the republic and thus demand to be killed for the good of all of is what he was suggesting that is shared.

Yes, this is more or less how I read the statement, but I can see why others had a less charitable reading. I don't want to nitpick it too much, because its a pretextual charge during a tense moment.

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#119

Post by somethoughts »

It feels a better strategy for all parties involved to have transitioned these shows to ABC's streaming properties (i.e. Hulu) and made them "exclusive" content for these platforms.

This would have put them out of the reach of the FCC (based on the FCC's initial spectrum is for public benefit for all claim) for now.

There is probably significant IP in both of these shows that could still have been monetized given brand familiarity. It would have been less than before but still something is better than nothing.

I don't have any data to back this up but I can't imagine a lot of people still use Over The Air TV. And the intersection of people who rely solely on OTA TV and are clamoring to watch Kimmel/View is probably even lower.

This also would probably have benefitted the administration in that it wouldn't have trigger as many alarm bells from a free speech perspective.

Re: After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View

#120

Post by taurath »

gtirloni wrote: post #14

I'm not a US citizen so take what I write below with a grain of salt. I always thought the US to be a stronghold of democracy and free speech. I know, it's a naive view and we know how huge companies and corrupt politicians can subvert the system. But still, I thought it had a decent law system that, although imperfect like any other system, kept things from going back to the dark ages. I don't believe that anymore a…

> I always thought the US to be a stronghold of democracy and free speech.

Every single story and moral guidance I've ever been told from childhood, whether from movies, books, church, or culture in general is that people like those in power right now are the bad guys.

I no longer have any idea what people on the other side actually think. I don't think they know anymore either. I think they just want to exert power and control and revenge over their personal grievances and boogeymen, and seem to be under a constant bombardment of ideology to convince people to untether themselves from any moral restraint or connection with the out-group.

I am one of the scary minorities they use as a boogeyman, and their rhetoric about the group of people I belong to is so unattached from my daily life, the values that I hold, and my own attitudes that it would be comical if it didn't come out in sideways glances, scowls, and stares of people on the street. Nobody ever even bothers to ask, to even have a moment of conversation to see that there is a real person. I try to walk through life friendly, open, and interested in people. We walk around with conceptions of other people built for us, not ones that we have made ourselves.

The only thing that seems to help is to try to be offline as much as possible, to be in community with people and in real space.

Post reply on HN