Over the last few days, the headlines have been dominated by the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The talk show was originally taken off air indefinitely by Disney and its parent companies, following comments made on the show about the death of Charlie Kirk by the host.
Following widespread backlash from celebrities and people boycotting streaming services such as Disney+ and Hulu, the decision has been reversed – and Jimmy Kimmel will return to screens tonight, Tuesday 23 September 2025 at 11:35pm ET. There’s no doubt that viewership will be high, with many people curious to see what the presenter has to say about the past few days.
But there’s a catch. While it will syndicated on most ABC stations across the USA, there is a selection owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group that will not be airing the show. This was confirmed by the following quote:
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming.”
If you want to know if you’re impacted, and all the ways you can possibly get around the ban, then we have everything you need to know.
Is Jimmy Kimmel Live! banned on my local channel?
Sinclair has 39 stations across the country, and states affected by the ban include Florida, California and Texas – though your station will depend on exactly where you’re based.
Newsweek has reported that the following stations are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and, therefore, will not be airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight on local cable TV:
- WBMA-LD – Birmingham, AL
- WEAR-TV – Pensacola, FL
- KATV – Little Rock, AR
- KRCR-TV – Redding, CA
- KAEF-TV – Eureka, CA
- WJLA-TV – Washington, DC
- WGXA – Macon, GA
- WSYX – Columbus, OH
- WKEF – Dayton, OH
- KTUL – Tulsa, OK
- WSET-TV – Lynchburg, VA
- WCHS-TV – Charleston, WV
- WLOS – Asheville, NC
- WXLV-TV – Winston-Salem, NC
- KHGI-TV – Kearney, NE
- KWNB-TV – Hayes Center, NE
- KTXS-TV – Abilene, TX
- KVII-TV – Amarillo, TX
- KTXE-LD – San Angelo, TX
- WATM-TV – Altoona, PA
- WGTU – Traverse City, MI
- WTOM-TV – Cheboygan, MI
- WGTQ – Sault Ste. Marie, MI
- KATU – Portland, OR
- WJAC-TV – Johnstown, PA
- WICS – Springfield, IL
- WICD – Champaign, IL
- KDNL-TV – St. Louis, MO
- WNBW-DT – Gainesville, FL
- WCTI-TV – New Bern, NC
- WGTU – Traverse City, MI
- WTVC – Chattanooga, TN
- WCHS-TV – Charleston, WV
- WSET-TV – Lynchburg, VA
- KTXS-TV – Abilene, TX
- KATV – Little Rock, AR
- KTXE-LD – San Angelo, TX
- WXLV-TV – Winston-Salem, NC
- WGTQ – Sault Ste. Marie, MI
If that’s you, then you may not be completely banned. There are some streaming options you can try.
How to watch Jimmy Kimmel Live! if it’s banned in my local area
The best alternative to cable for watching the return of Jimmy Kimmel is to try a premium live TV streaming service. Many of these offer free trials, so while subscription prices are high, you can cancel before you’re billed without dropping a dollar if you wish to tune in live tonight.
But as Men’s Journal reports, some of these can pull from local TV affiliates. If none of these platforms work, there is something else you can try on top to watch live, which we’ll go into more detail with below.
These are your first choices:
- FuboTV – 7-day free trial – $54.99 per month. Inputting your zip code when you sign up should detail channel availability
- YouTube TV – 5-day free trial – $49.99 per month for first month. Enter your zip code prior to signing up to see availability
- Sling Blue – no free trial – $23 per month. Men’s Journal reports that this isn’t likely to pull from local affiliates, but Google suggests that this may not be the case – and ABC is not available everywhere, according to the website
If you want to be on the safe side, you could also try using a VPN on top of this service. VPNs (virtual private networks) reroute your IP address, so you can browse the internet as if you’re from another location.
In this case, this would be a state where Jimmy Kimmel is airing, such as Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, Arizona and Kansas – though there are plenty more.
The service we’ve found to be the most reliable, easy to use and affordable (and offers servers in all of the states listed above) is NordVPN, which can also be used to unblock other platforms internationally, such as BBC iPlayer. There are further options in our list of the best VPNs.
In theory, this should then pull through local channels from the location you’re connected to – if the platform still works while connected to a VPN.
We haven’t tested this live, as Jimmy Kimmel hasn’t yet aired, so this method isn’t foolproof – and there is a chance that the streaming service could block your account if it detects you using a VPN. Proceed at your own risk.
If all these fail, then the episode should be available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu the following day, Wednesday, 24 September, while clips of the show will likely be uploaded to YouTube as well.
