'Jimmy Kimmel Live' Returns to Sinclair, Nexstar ABC Affiliate Stations in Reversal

2 PM PT -- Hours after Sinclair's update, Nexstar has also announced the company's ABC affiliate stations will return "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" to the air starting tonight.

The Jimmy Kimmel extended blackout is seeing more daylight ... starting tonight, 'Live!' is storming back onto all of Sinclair Broadcasting Group's 38 ABC affiliate stations, the company declared Friday.

Sinclair said the past week had brought a flood of feedback -- from viewers, advertisers, and community leaders -- all pushing them to decide keeping Kimmel on-air is key to fostering respectful dialogue across a spectrum of differing voices.

Earlier this week, ABC announced Kimmel would return to the airwaves Tuesday night ... but Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group -- two media companies that own a significant amount of local affiliate stations -- said they were both resisting bringing Jimmy back ... leaving about 20% of the country without his show while talks with Disney dragged on.

As of mid-day Friday, Nexstar is still preempting Kimmel.

Sinclair also noted the troubling shooting at a Sacramento ABC affiliate last week in the statement. The news of Jimmy's return drops just 3 days after Kimmel’s show returned to Disney’s ABC network, ending a nearly week-long suspension over his controversial comments about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer and President Trump ... following a veiled threat from the chairman of the FCC.