You will not be surprised to learn that Yahoo News reports media conglomerate Nexstar – owner of The Hill, NewsNation, and dozens of local TV stations – announced Wednesday they were preempting Jimmy Kimmel’s show on their two dozen or so ABC affiliates – which then prompted the network to put him on indefinite hiatus – as they sought FCC approval of their $6.2 billion acquisition of rival outfit Tegna, formerly Gannett Media, owner/operator of 68 local stations.

Also, sur-fucking-prise, there’s no mention of this in The Hill’s coverage of the Kimmel shitshow. On Mediaite, there’s three articles that do so in passing without making the EXTREMELY freaking obvious connection. “Last month, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook praised the Trump administration after the company announced it was acquiring rival TEGNA as part of a $6.2 billion deal, which is pending approval from Carr’s FCC,” they wrote verbatim in two separate stories. Ballsy by their standards considering that, though he quit his nightly NewsNation show in February, founder Dan Abrams said he would remain involved with the network and might’ve appeared on panel segments and what not.

It also hints at what some might’ve already guessed given The Hill’s bent: That Nexstar didn’t actually need to be nudged to preempt Kimmel and did it on their own – and it’s fair to question that they might’ve just done it anyway if they weren’t awaiting approval for the merger.

And speaking of FCC incel Brandan Carr, here he was taking a victory lap on CNBC this morning: