Disney’s Bob Iger Would Be in Dangerous Territory If He Tries to Block Monday Night Football from Anti-Jimmy Kimmel Affiliates

UPDATE: In the hours since this article was written on September 26, 2025, Nexstar announced that it will bring Jimmy Kimmel back on the air.

The fight for Jimmy Kimmel Live on all ABC stations is heating up.

Disney/ABC has leverage through its private affiliation contracts (including renewal, termination for breach, and compensation mechanics) in the past, but U.S. rules and long-standing FCC guidance make punitive withholding of other ABC shows a legally risky move.

A clip from the NFL on YouTube – YouTube, NFL

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Yet that might be exactly what Disney is planning for Nexstar with an online rumor that CEO Bob Iger could withhold Monday Night Football in an attempt to force the station owners to cave on their Jimmy Kimmel boycotts.

But media insiders say Nexstar and Sinclair face even bigger problems from the Disney side if they keep him off the air. Both signed their agreements fully aware of Kimmel’s hyper-partisan and anti-Trump political humor. Disney could argue the continued suspension of Kimmel violates their agreement. That’s after Kimmel, while not making an apology, at least said nice things about Kirk’s widow after ABC lifted its own suspension on Tuesday.

Disney has other tools in its kit — and some of them are big. It could withhold essential programming like “Monday Night Football,” which airs both on ABC and Disney’s ESPN cable sports channel.

–Charles Gasparino, New York Post

After ABC reinstated Jimmy Kimmel Live! following a brief suspension, major ABC affiliate group Nexstar said it would continue to preempt the show across dozens of markets, replacing it with local programming. The company confirmed its stance this week as the show returned, meaning many viewers still can’t see Kimmel on their local ABC stations.

Sinclair, the other major affiliate that dropped Kimmel announced Friday it would return him to the airwaves despite no concessions from Disney, Bob Iger, or Kimmel.

A clip from the NFL on YouTube – YouTube, NFL

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The FCC’s “right-to-reject” and related “option time” principles limit how far a network can go in forcing carriage—or punishing a station for declining it:

• Affiliates must retain the right to reject or refuse network programs a licensee “reasonably believes to be unsatisfactory, unsuitable or contrary to the public interest,” and to substitute programming “of greater local or national importance.” The FCC formally reaffirmed these protections in a 2008 declaratory ruling.

• Networks shouldn’t use penalties—monetary or non-monetary—against protected preemptions. The same 2008 order said affiliation agreements should not include provisions that impose penalties on affiliates for right-to-reject preemptions. Retaliatory withholding of other programs would likely be viewed as a prohibited penalty.

• The FCC’s rules about network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity mainly let stations protect their contracted exclusivity from cable/satellite imports; they don’t empower a network to selectively starve specific affiliates of unrelated shows.

• 47 C.F.R. § 73.658 (affiliation agreements) also reflects long-standing limits on network control over local licensees (e.g., option-time and rate-control prohibitions), reinforcing that affiliates are not mere network repeaters.

Within those guardrails, ABC still has real leverage—just not the made-for-TV “we’ll pull Monday Night Football from your market” kind:

1. Contract enforcement if preemptions exceed what the contract and FCC rules allow. Affiliation agreements usually have clearance commitments (e.g., carry X% of network feed, limits on routine preemptions). If a station goes beyond permissible right-to-reject grounds, ABC could claim breach and seek remedies up to termination at renewal or upon default—classic private-law tools rather than public-law penalties. While most ABC affiliation contracts are confidential, SEC-filed exemplars and summaries show that clearance and good-faith carriage provisions are standard, including language about negotiating carriage in time periods the network programs.

2. Adjust economics going forward. Modern network–affiliate deals often involve reverse compensation and other financials. ABC can negotiate tougher terms or refuse favorable economics at renewal if an owner chronically limits clearance—again, prospective bargaining, not mid-term punishment.

3. O&O expansion (where possible). In rare cases (and subject to FCC ownership caps and market realities), a network can buy or swap stations to convert them into owned-and-operated outlets. That’s a long road and not a fast lever.

But there are also guardrails that are likely not at Bob Iger’s disposal:

• Targeted program boycotts against specific affiliates as retaliation (e.g., “You pulled Kimmel, so we won’t send you The Oscars”). A selective blackout of unrelated network programming would look like a non-monetary penalty for an asserted right-to-reject preemption—precisely the conduct the FCC warned against in 2008. It would invite regulatory complaints and potential litigation.

• Use FCC exclusivity rules to coerce carriage. Those rules help stations block duplicate feeds from MVPDs; they don’t give ABC a button to cut off other shows in one station group’s markets as punishment.

Everything turns on why the affiliates are preempting. If Nexstar can credibly frame its move as a good-faith exercise of editorial judgment (unsuitable/contrary to public interest; or substituting programming of greater local/national importance), it will sit under the FCC umbrella. If not, ABC could argue excessive or bad-faith non-clearance in breach of contract.

HULU ON DISNEY+ CELEBRATION – Some of the biggest stars across The Walt Disney Company celebrate the official launch of Hulu on Disney+ at an exclusive cocktail reception hosted by Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, along with special guest Bob Iger, on Friday evening in Los Angeles. (Disney/Greg Williams)
DANA WALDEN (CO-CHAIRMAN, DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY), ROBERT A. IGER (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY), ALAN BERGMAN (CO-CHAIRMAN, DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY)

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For now, Nexstar has publicly stated it’s continuing to preempt as the show returns, while ABC has resumed distribution—so the dispute remains squarely in the zone governed by those 2008 FCC principles.

Ultimately, punitive withholding of other ABC programs from Nexstar because of the Kimmel preemptions would likely conflict with the FCC’s 2008 guidance prohibiting penalties for protected preemptions. That makes a tit-for-tat blackout a high-risk move for Disney. ABC’s real leverage is contractual and prospective: enforce clearance obligations if the preemptions aren’t protected, and negotiate tough at renewal—not a mid-season, selective starvation of marquee content.

A sign honoring Disney CEO Bob Iger at Castaway Cay – Photo Credit: That Park Place

In the meantime, the standoff underscores how consolidation among station groups can constrain a network’s distribution options—and why this fight has spilled into the broader policy conversation.

Sources & further reading:

• FCC Declaratory Ruling on network–affiliate agreements (2008) and Federal Register summary (right-to-reject; no penalties for protected preemptions). FCC Apps+1

• 47 C.F.R. § 73.658 (affiliation agreements and network control limits). Legal Information Institute

• Nexstar and Sinclair statements and reporting on the ongoing preemptions as the show returned. Nexstar Media Group, Inc.+2Deadline+2

• Context on exclusivity rules (non-duplication/syndex). Federal Communications Commission

• Broader policy backdrop on consolidation pressures highlighted by the controversy. The Guardian

UP NEXT: BREAKING: Sinclair Caves to Disney, Puts Jimmy Kimmel Back on the Air After Compromise Demands Ignored