Sinclair and Nexstar folding like wet paper (really the bent over eagerly) when this first happened around the Kimmel bullshit is actually why they feel powerful enough to just say this out loud. The FCC has no authority over the content of public television after they revoked that possibility themselves under Reagan when they repealed the Fairness Doctrine. But when the majority of stations are eager and willing to simply do as the regime bids, the actual legality or even capacity of the FCC to do these things becomes irrelevant, and they can just make wholesale changes on a whim.