Most ABC affiliates are owned by a mix of large TV station groups such as Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, while a smaller set of major-market stations are directly owned by ABC’s parent company, The Walt Disney Company.

Quick Scoop: Who Owns ABC Affiliates?

ABC in the U.S. is a national broadcast network that relies on hundreds of local “affiliate” stations. Ownership of those local stations is split between Disney itself and several big media groups.

1. ABC’s Own Stations (Disney-Owned)

These are called “owned-and-operated” (O&O) stations, and they are directly owned by the ABC Owned Television Stations division, a part of Disney Entertainment Television.

  • These O&O stations are in the largest markets (examples include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc., though specific lists can change over time).
  • For these markets, ABC/Disney controls both the network and the local station business (programming decisions, ad sales, and branding).

In short, a small but very influential group of ABC affiliates is owned outright by The Walt Disney Company.

2. Independently Owned Affiliate Groups

Most ABC affiliates are not owned by Disney; instead they are owned by regional or national station groups that sign affiliation agreements with ABC.

Two of the biggest players that have been in the news recently:

  1. Nexstar Media Group
    • Owns or partners with more than 200 stations in 116 U.S. markets across all major networks.
 * Among these, Nexstar owns a number of ABC-affiliated stations in cities like Nashville, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, and smaller markets such as Evansville (Indiana) and Binghamton (New York).
  1. Sinclair Broadcast Group
    • Based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it operates or provides services to 178 stations in 81 markets, with affiliates of all major networks.
 * Operates around a few dozen ABC affiliates (for example, in Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, and other cities).

 * Has a reputation for a more conservative editorial stance, which can affect how local news and network shows are handled.

Other, smaller groups and individual owners also control ABC affiliates in various regions, but Nexstar and Sinclair together account for roughly a quarter of ABC affiliates in the U.S.

3. Why This Ownership Question Is Trending

ABC affiliates became a hot topic again after conflicts where some affiliate owners chose to preempt or delay ABC’s national programming (for example, episodes of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”) and instead air their own local shows.

  • Nexstar and Sinclair have both used their control of local ABC stations to make decisions that diverge from Disney-owned ABC’s national plans, highlighting the tension between the network and local owners.
  • This dynamic illustrates how, even though ABC (the network) is owned by Disney, viewers’ actual experience can depend heavily on the corporate owner of their local ABC affiliate.

4. Simple Way to Think About It

You can think of it like this:

  • The ABC network (national brand, prime-time shows, news) is owned by The Walt Disney Company.
  • The local ABC station you tune into may be:
    • Owned directly by Disney (in the biggest cities), or
    • Owned by a station group such as Nexstar, Sinclair, or another broadcaster, which simply carries ABC’s programming under an affiliation contract.

The key nuance: asking “who owns ABC affiliates?” doesn’t have a single answer—Disney owns some, but many are owned by other big media companies that just partner with ABC.

TL;DR:
The ABC network is owned by Disney, but most ABC affiliates are owned by separate station groups like Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group, plus various other local broadcasters, with only a core set of major-market stations directly owned by Disney’s ABC Owned Television Stations division.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.