Why Hasn’t Jimmy Kimmel Signed A New Deal With Disney?

Jimmy Kimmel has had an incredibly busy year after being pulled off the air last September by ABC and becoming a free-speech hero in the process.

Last month, it emerged that he was in talks to renew his deal with Disney ahead of his contract expiring in May.

Dana Walden, President and Chief Creative Officer of The Walt Disney Company, was asked at the Bloomberg Screentime event why isn’t renewing Jimmy Kimmel Live! a “no-brainer”, particularly as his ratings have grown after CBS axed The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Walden admitted late-night was a “very challenging day part”.

“That’s not to say that Jimmy is not doing a phenomenal job, and his ratings are up, but they’re up relative to a smaller audience that’s watching late night on broadcast television. Obviously, there’s a YouTube channel [and] millions of people are watching on demand the parts of that show. That is not a lucrative opportunity for a very premium talk show. So, we’re trying to make sense of the business while also honoring a deep partnership.”

Late-night budgets are coming down; Colbert was asked to reduce the budget of The Late Show before it was canned by CBS and Late Night with Seth Meyers has seen a number of cuts including its band and a new schedule that saw him take off a large part of the summer.

Disney is clearing trying to cut costs on Jimmy Kimmel Live! but is walking a tightrope to keep one of its most loyal company men – Kimmel appears every year at its Upfronts among other corporate gigs – happy.

“I love Jimmy. We have a great friendship. He’s close to a number of the people at Disney, and again, we’re trying to work through it and make sense of both what does Jimmy want, what’s the right thing to do, and what’s the right thing for our business?,” Walden said.

There have been a few suggestions; Kimmel started taking the summers off in 2020 but the show continues with guest hosts, so taking the whole summer off is one suggestion. This week he is in Brooklyn for one of his regular New York trips, which is an expensive move given that he brings his entire 200-strong team with him. That is another option to cut, although it’s also tricky as these shows tend to perform well and bring A-list stars such as Robert DeNiro, who appeared with a baseball bat acting as FCC boss Brendan Carr, Billy Crystal, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Kimmel has previously said that there’s no reasons for late-night to cost as much as it does. “I don’t think there’s a reason for these shows to go away. I think there are different. There are ways. These shows started out because they were a way to get high priced talent for almost free. That was the whole trick. That was the whole reason they started these shows. It was deemed to be promotional. So, the idea that these shows need to cost $120M is crazy,” he said.

Kimmel and his wife Molly McNearney, who is also an exec producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, discussed the topic of retirement recently on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.

Shepard asked Kimmel if he would regret retirement. “I know people who’ve been in that situation,” said Kimmel, who has hosted JKL! since 2003. “It’s funny. People make a big show of like ‘I’m done and I’m tired of doing this,’ and then they make a lesser comeback trying to do the same thing. That’s always a bummer. I always look at that and go, ‘Oh, is that going to be me?’”