Ain’t So New, And Ain’t So Clear

 The case everyone is talking about Carr and Kimmel is talking about: 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the court, said: "Six decades ago, this Court held that a government entity's "threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion" against a third party "to achieve the suppression" of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment. Today, the Court reaffirms what it said then: Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.

The decision was 9-0.  In 2024. And this is the reason Carr is offering Nexstar a carrot, instead of a stick. Carr doesn’t want to go to court. He can get what he wants without doing that.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “The Kimmel suspension is a much bigger deal than you know. It's really about a growing alliance between Trump and the companies that own America's local TV stations - like Nexstar - to turn local TV into Trump propaganda. In Aug, Nexstar announced they wanted to buy another TV station company, Tegna. But that's illegal - because it would give Nexstar control of stations in nearly half the country. FCC rules prohibit ONE company from having THAT much control over local TV content. Why? Because one company shouldn't control local speech in half the country.”

… “Also, we want our local TV stations to be run by local actors to preserve local identity and prevent our culture from becoming soullessly flattened - which Nexstar was already doing! But good news for Nexstar! Brendan Carr, Trump's FCC Chair, said he's open to an unprecedented change in the rules to allow the Nexstar-Tegna merger to go through - which would be good ONLY for the filthy rich owners of both companies. Which means Nexstar has to play ball. So when Carr threatened to revoke the licenses of local stations that continued to air Kimmel - at the same time he was whispering to Nexstar that he might bend the rules to approve their billion dollar merger - Nexstar knew what to do: BEND THE KNEE.”

Except Nexstar didn’t bend the knee; it took the deal it was offered. What do they care about Jimmy Kimmel’s free speech rights? They want 80% of the market, and Carr will (illegally) give it to them. And unless a competitor complains about the sweetheart deal in court, nothing ever gets to court. Even if that happens, the case won’t involve Kimmel’s rights. Oh,  Kimmel could sue. But does he really want to sue, given the trend lines?

And if Kimmel gets his job back, what does NextStar do? Abandon all those ABC affiliates? Some other stations will gladly take them up.  Or Carr doesn’t help them; which would be fine, too. 

Follow the money.