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This!! I firmly believe money was a factor. It is a 200-person staff, and it is costly to produce. Given that they have been in cost-cutting mode for a while, it is logical that they see a big financial upside in axing this show. But it can also be true that the timing is suspect. The claim in their press release that it was "purely" financial is dubious at best. This is a problem that CBS made. When you pay out a multimillion-dollar settlement to avoid a lawsuit that should be in your wheelhouse to fight against, all your future decisions are viewed through an entirely new lens. If they had defended themselves in open court, they would be on better ground when they claim that shuttering their late-night franchise was exclusively fiscally motivated. But after that settlement, they will never get that benefit of the doubt. Sure, it's a cost-cutting move, but very few people - including myself - will see it solely as a balance sheet decision.

That's inviting Dr. Kevorkian to preside over the funeral.

Of course it's financial. Letterman's final Late Show episode got nearly 14 million viewers. A decade later, the Late Show has an audience of just over 2 million boomers who forgot to turn the TV off before falling asleep. It's not worth paying Colbert $15 million a year on top of the staff's salaries and the costs of maintaining that theater anymore, especially when its spot in the cultural milieu is now occupied by podcasts with postage-stamp budgets by comparison. Not to mention, this isn't new for CBS. This is the same network that was already too cheap to keep the SEC or the Grammys. They are cutting costs to the bone in any way they can. Not everything in life is hyper-politicized. Sometimes it actually is just about the money.

But we’re not in danger of authoritarianism, right? This. Is. Vile.

LateNighter’s Bill Carter pointed out that CBS has canceled a show due to political pressure before (back in the 1960s) and notes that NBC had taken cost-cutting measures at The Tonight Show and Late Night over the past year that CBS didn’t even consider: Considering the abuses of power during this administration, it isn’t a “sky is falling” situation. There’s genuine concern (and they’ve given plenty of reason for us to believe) Trump and company are undermining American democracy and trying to consolidate power (some actions being a matter of seeing how much they can get away with, and the Supreme Court now rubberstamping a lot of Trump’s actions on dubious legal grounds, whereas they were a bit of a mixed bag during his first term, and weakening lower courts’ ability to fully check his unconstitutional actions). Authoritarianism is not simply arresting and murdering political opponents and shutting down legislatures, it can take root through other forms of abuses including, but not limited to, pressuring media outlets to self-censor.

This random middle of the summer, middle of the week axing does not suggest a primarily financial move. There is no show on their air that is pulling the numbers from its respective glory days. The soaps are a shell of their old selves, Price chugs along with nowhere near the audience it once had, etc. But the guy who savaged their capitulation to tyranny, he goes first. The saying “doesn’t pass the small test” applies in spades.

I personally doubt Trump had anything to do with it at all. All of these late-night shows have spent the past decade telling the same jokes about him that were probably already posted a million times on Reddit before their writers' rooms even thought of them, but the only one getting cancelled right now is the one on the network that's spent the last few years cancelling or giving away everything to save money. I always thought Colbert was a baffling choice to replace Letterman anyway. What made Colbert famous was the parody of Bill O'Reilly he did on the Colbert Report, but he had to retire the character to host the Late Show as himself. Without that character, it turns out there's nothing special about him in particular, thus there was no strong hook to keep Letterman's audience invested in the show. They should have just promoted Craig Ferguson instead. Yet another awful decision by CBS in hindsight.

Here’s what happened, in image form: Easy prediction: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will be lobbied hard by the streaming platforms, and wherever they go, they’ll get way better numbers than they ever have on linear media. If this was a so-called “hit job” by Trump it honestly missed the mark, and badly so.

If anyone thinks this has nothing to do with Paramount/Skydance capitulating to 47, then I have some proverbial oceanfront property in Montana for you all to buy. The timing is all too coincidental. Don't be surprised if The Daily Show folds next.

Short answer: seriously doubt it. Streaming lets viewers direct their attention to what they want, and forces them to prioritise time. Long answer: The rise in streaming is part of nature. It was inevitable. But it's also the result of many proverbial chickens that came home to roost rather quickly. Ignoring YouTube, Tv show streaming started largely as a response to rampant bittorrent piracy of the mid 2000s. They were terified, shaking, of having to deal with another Napster when broadband started to take off. That's why NBC and NewsCorp created Hulu in 2008. And they did try and force us to watch TV. Sued Sony way back when because the VCR recorded broadcasts. Sued DVR maker ReplayTV circa 2001 for having an ad skip built into the software. Screamed and hollered about ad skipping. Forced cable channel bundling. Remember CableCard? Or TVAnywhere - hey, you could stream your favorite show online!!! But... only if you log in with your CableTV user/password AND paid for the right TV package. It was obvious when NBC and NewsCorp launched Hulu that broadcast TV stations are a middleman nobody needs, and will be screwed if streaming ever became popular. A lot of journos would literally utter words, describing how they are irreplaceable, that people will keep watching. People love the weather forecast on TV, all the viewer panels prove that's why they watch. Hazel and Fanny In The Morning (who hate each other's guts during the commercial breaks) are so relateable people just adore them. Forgot: a lot of the current decisions are almost always made taking into account linear/broadcast and especially affiliates, who would understanably revolt since they're the ones shouldering the NFL/NBA expense handing over their retrans. Syphoning retrans also didn't help local stations, which already lacked creativity how tackle streaming, or outright thought they're above it

The New York Times is reporting that the show was already unprofitable, and had been that way for three years.

Also think it needs to be asked: If Trump was behind this, why is it taking so damn long? If Trump was the one pressuring CBS, then you'd have to assume he'd want Colbert gone now, not give him carte blanche to ratchet up the attacks for almost a year.

No. It is said that viewers hated Dan Rather's Texas vernacular and his signoff but not enough to tune out. He was #1 from 81-89 I believe. Then ABC brought Peter Jenings and he took the lead, #1 from 1989 until '96 when Brokaw started placing first. Whatever issues legacy media has are all self-inflicted. I'm a bit of a Maurice DuBois fanboy but I find the new format appealing. He and John Dickerson come off solid. Hasn't made me watch because I no longer care but what little I've seen, I liked. It didn't make me want to tune out

It is somewhat gratifying to see the once Tiffany Network fall into the Temu network at the behest of Sharon Redstone and this administration's blackmail. If CBS is still around in a few years, and they think it's worth gouging their affiliates, you're going to see some more affiliate defections. Think back to when the RTN/RTV network was handed over to Charlie Luken during Equity's bankruptcy. As soon as they ended their deal carrying NBCUniversal's library, their affiliate base dropped like flies while Weigel was sweeping the country with MeTV offering a vastly superior product.

Spirit Halloween?

No! This is not what needs to happen, at all. This is how we're going to end up with more "Shovelcasts" (this is a new term I just invented, you're welcome) like Scrippscast being shoved into the schedule. Nobody is asking for more news, period, and any 11:30 newscasts that get created in summer 2026 are going to be canceled by November 4th of that year. Folks, we're talking about a genre that used to have 15 million sets of eyeballs a night. Colbert's "most watched" status is 16% of Carson's audience. Any profit the show makes is likely sliding every year, and it would not surprise me at all if the bean counters determined it would slide into "unprofitable" territory during his next contract. The Internet is the one holding the smoking gun here.

Either this... or the time is going back to the stations. If you're old enough to remember CBS Late Night/Late Movie before Dave Letterman came (or hell, before Pat Sajak and his ill-fated talker), if you know, you know. And that's if your local CBS station aired the network late-night block way back when.

Shocking news:

Reading that, it makes sense now why Seth's Tuesday show is more 'evergreen' with no new "A Closer Look", with it taping two shows on Monday; I was curious as to why they upload the full A-block on that day and not other days to YouTube. (Yes, I'm part of the problem in that I consume the show there rather than on DVR, but I also hope that Peacock eventually fulfills their promise to have NBC's late night at 9pm ET, which they got talked out of by people who don't look so smart five years later) It also helps that NBC owns 30 Rock and knows every part of the building inside and out, while the Sullivan, despite all the work done over the years, is still an old adapted theater building that needs constant upkeep, along with a full office building above it that isn't much better. I've also noticed many fewer musical guests on late night, and many more of them have adapted the COVID era allowance of taping them elsewhere on location just because that reduces a lot of union expense to set up the stage for one performance (CBS used to do "Live on Letterman" extended performances, but that died with his version). Really, The Talk cancellation was the first sign of distress for CBS; they could've easily just added even more sponsored content to keep the show profitable but knew it would turn off viewers, and by the end its guest base was pretty much down to whoever they could get from CBS prime time on a taping dark day. And there was no way The Gates would work being taped in California thanks to Georgia's tax credits alone. If we're just looking at CBS's real estate, they have by far the oldest and most depreciated portfolio of studios and facilities; 30 Rock may be old, but it has a solid foundation and walls to work around, and the Iger building is basically a reset and clean slate for ABC. Even with the cost savings of switching every light to LED, that building still has an old fridge of an AC and is expensive to heat and cool, and despite the timing of the announcement, I think they just knew the economics of the show just can't work any more when you've gone from cars, P&G and films as your biggest advertisers to...Prevagen, Iberogast, and other various snake oil, along with legit prescription drug ads that will make anyone under 40 flee for YouTube and Netflix.

I don't think it's fair to say they "didn't consider" things, because again, we lack the information. "Financial reasons" could, for all we know, have included starting on negotiating Colbert's next contract, and him going "$25 million and I keep the band, or I walk!" and that made it financially unviable. Guess which conspiracy theory narrative works out better for his PR? Some industry analysts are starting to doubt Kimmel or Fallon will be around in 5 years, either. Someone at 11:35 had to be first to go, and we've already seen late night talkers in different time slots (Corden, Conan) go already. There are fewer soaps on then there used to be, and soaps have never really been known for high production values and expenses. Price probably costs very little to actually produce, as it's all product placement, and they can be efficient with time and tape multiple episodes a day. Late Show, however, is paying for Colbert's fat contract, plus expenses and fees for celebrity guests. These genres are all very different things and have very different profit margins.

That linear television was withering and that this has appeasing the cretin in the White House with or without a direct quid pro quo are not mutually exclusive, nor automatically dismissed as conspiracy theories. We need only look at what’s happened the past approximately 6 months for ample evidence of acquiescence when only the faintest suggestion that being on the wrong side of those in power is a very bad idea. It’s also not limited to broadcasting. We have all seen with our own, not-conspiracy-tainted eyes what happens when they decide to target a person or entity. That chilling effect has been more than enough to achieve their goals. It is autocracy. Perhaps a uniquely “American” version of it, but calling it what it is does not equate to being a crackpot conspiracy theorist.

Which is hardly unexpected. It's almost as if this is being done to manipulate sentiment on the left side of the aisle. Look, I'm going to say my peace here. I'm highly, highly distressed seeing people fall for conspiracy theories on here and on RadioDiscussions over the past few days. I've personally been in contact with @Weeters about this behavior on social media and it legitimately sounds like the left is falling for the exact same "this is autocracy and Trump is consolidating power" like it's an endless Sarah Kenzidor thread from 2016. There's also people continuing to amplify the falsehood that the election was rigged or that the shooting in PA last July was fully staged. Absolutely scary stuff. Everything is not okay. Loathsome, slimy vermin are indeed at the controls. But it is also not okay to not have any semblance of perspective. And linear media was dying long before November 2024 and Paramount Global was dying under Shari Redstone and I will die on those two hills. It's not autocracy but talk that that plays right into the hands of the aforementioned vermin.

Trump has repeatedly slammed late-night comedy shows for years for making jokes and criticisms about him, and even mused publicly about having the FCC punish networks for satire on shows like Colbert, Kimmel and SNL that is protected by the First Amendment. It was already reported that Skydance leadership might push for canceling Colbert and The Daily Show and reshape CBS News’ editorial independence to rid the company of what they consider a “liberal taint. The timing, days after Colbert criticized Paramount for settling a winnable lawsuit to get the Skydance deal over the line, makes it seem retaliatory or like capitulation to Trump. There were means to cut costs like asking Colbert to take a pay cut or eliminating the Late Show Band (like Late Night with Seth Meyers did with the 8G Band last year). Unless Paramount can prove it considered cancelling the show before the settlement, I think it’s a mistake to automatically believe the pretext it was financial. Two things can be true: The Late Show was losing revenue for the network, and Paramount could have used that to sell the cancellation to the public despite the optics clearly suggesting otherwise. Because of the aforementioned circumstances, it’s justified that most critical of this decision don’t buy that financial metrics were key, when there were changes they could have made to prolong the show for a few more years. Truly, we’ll never know unless a whistleblower confirms those suspicions, but one set of circumstances can be used to cover up an action done for indefensible reasons. Even if the financial circumstances that led CBS to dump The Late Late Show and @fter Midnight may have been an issue, treating it at face value as the reason for The Late Show’s demise given everything else may be unwise. After all, this is the same network that added a third soap opera to its lineup (Beyond the Gates, which CBS Studios produces) just this year, even though soaps are also relatively expensive to produce (the reasoning partly given for ABC’s move to pare back its soap lineup in 2011 to just General Hospital).

He did not want it. He stated he was happy where he was hosting Late Late Show until he made his decision to leave for other projects (and it really was his decision) in 2014.

They’re a little inconsistent with the 5pm open. Sometimes it’s played sometimes not. Last night it was.

After they paid trump's extortion, their credibility isn't all that high. This is a coincidence to be very skeptical of. Worse, trump is all over social media celebrating.

Meanwhile someone close to The Late Show told Brian Stelter that the show was already starting to lose money due to "plunging ad revenue". Which is the actual story here. There's a likely chance it would have continued in a different political climate, downscaled significantly, or moved to Paramount+ but the tourniquet was used instead. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/media/cbs-cancels-stephen-colbert

I've been watching AMHQ all week and the Local on the 8s were all normal except for what you observed today.

You can absolutely kiss public broadcasting as a whole goodbye, along with a major chunk of the EAS PEPs. These braindead republicans and their cult leader…

Those channels (even totally dead channels like MTV and VH1) have no budget or payroll and thus still turn enough of a profit especially with retransmission revenue drying up. Same reason why a clunker like NewsNation still exists despite nonexistent ratings; the overhead is small enough that Nexstar still makes a profit and thus justifies the channel’s existence. Blame can be assigned by a 9:1 ratio. It’s almost entirely Shari’s fault; Trump simply gave the final nudge. Anything else is revisionist history. Look, anyone who knows me knows that I revile and despise that man, his supporters and his rubber stamp drones like Carr and Trusty. But cancelling the Late Show was in truth a long time coming. Corden getting yeeted and Seth Meyers losing his house band both happened prior to last November and were legitimate warning signs. As was The Daily Show being unable to find a replacement for Trevor Noah before coaxing Jon Stewart out of retirement.

How will they try lowball the NFL again when the AFC package is up for renewal?

It’s disingenuous to act like this was a financial decision while being the #1 late night talker at a struggling network. It would take ignoring all of the other developments preceding this move to be believable.

Hey, from a housekeeping standpoint for the mod staff, some users need to do better and actually look to make sure there isn't already a thread for a certain topic before posting their own. Just had to merge four threads into one on this news. Too many frustrated, aspiring journalists around here that are too focused on being first on stuff. End of rant. Then cancel everything else, too. 60 Minutes, the Evening News, The Price is Right, and the Late Show are the absolute last things that should be touched, if you're trying to look competent and inspire confidence. I'm not giving Trump credit, but there is a very obvious message being sent here. Either that, or you might start seeing other top talent walking across the network before they get told they can't get paid.

Whether the guy with the vein issue and cognitive decline directly demanded this isn’t the issue. It’s one more in an endless set of preemptive conformity by his allies and those who have or may have business before one of his crony-led agencies. This was a targeted hit that they’re wrapping in nonsense.

If CBS wasn't dead to me before this, I just hope and pray his second term ends before this happens.

Resurrecting this from the dead because this old package still lives on... on Blue Ridge Communications' weeknight local newscast at 5:00pm for the Poconos. EDIT: Also, for a cable company, they have a decent set.

I guess this was inevitable. Facts about the declining asset that is late night don't matter when you can spin it as "the show was solely cancelled at the behest of Trump". https://www.thewrap.com/stephen-colbert-late-show-cancellation-reactions-adam-schiff-elizabeth-warren/

Promos are beginning to roll out for CBS Atlanta...

Gray stations in Tennessee (WSMV, WMC, and WVLT) are now the official television stations of Tennessee Volunteers Athletics. This means an expansion of the Tennessee Valley Sports and Entertainment Network (only WSMV 4.2 plus WAFF 48.3 Huntsville; WMC 5.3 and WVLT 8.2 air some, but not all, programs from TVSN) is coming to Chattanooga and Jackson to cover those areas that don't have a Gray station there. https://www.wsmv.com/2025/07/18/game-changing-move-wsmv-wvlt-wmc-named-official-television-stations-tennessee-volunteers/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLnF6ZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHrscj484y-J94ao65yPItyXWbVFBM_FCTOt1-JAnp8BCry0P2v8qNJQ6CU63_aem_BERZxphP9yCKF0X6z4f_1w

WEWS is now welcome aboard the new 2025 Scripps package boat.

KCNC NewsCenter 4 First News report on the station's new music packages in 1986. Features a young Suzy Nelson, who, at the time, was a freelance announcer for KCNC, and Jerome Gilmer, the composer of the music package.

The House just passed the Senate's amended version of the bill, sending it to Trump's desk. Trump pledged to try to fund money for tribal radio stations as part of the Senate approval.

Sure it was. And I chose not to be considered for People’s Sexiest Man Alive. Heck, that might be more plausible than buying anything CBS is pushing here.

WSOC-TV's investigative reporter Jason Stoogenke got sworn in as an attorney today, he's still staying with Action 9.

CBS affiliates will probably expand there news to an hour. But this is a big deal though.

The statement CBS made was pretty clear that they aren't going to produce a replacement talk show.

I just hope, since the franchise is ending entirely, that Colbert has Letterman back one last time to help close out the brand he built. Also got to wonder what happens to the Ed Sullivan Theater... Surely CBS sees a nice payday on the sale of the building (at least, I assume they own it outright?)

CBS affiliates are replacing it with local news at 11:35 p.m. in three, two, one... However, in all seriousness, this is a shock, yet not entirely unexpected. A shock that the franchise is ending, not unexpected, is that more and more people are tuning away from the late-night genre.

All because Stephen Colbert spoke out against the lawsuit settlement?

Spain Pepa Bueno is coming home. The longtime Spanish journalist who's had a long distinguished career in journalism, and a long time at TVE before leaving in 2012 and at one point, doing radio in Cadena SER, and even Editor for El Pais, is going back to where it started... RTVE. And ironically enough, she's going back to her old job: Telediario, anchoring the 9pm edition on La 1, just like what she used to do from 2009-2012. She also used to do Los Desayunos de TVE from 2004-2008. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.rtve.es/rtve/20250717/pepa-bueno-regresa-a-rtve-para-presentar-telediario-noche/16667404.shtml