CBS brass say they pulled the plug on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” due to its punishing losses — pegged between $40 million and $50 million a yr — and declare politics had nothing to do with it, The Submit has realized.
The 61-year-old host received canned simply days after he took a dig on the Tiffany Community over its $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over a controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris because the community’s mother or father Paramount negotiates with the Trump administration regulatory approval for its $8 billion sale to impartial studio Skydance.
“I am offended, and I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company,” Colbert stated of the truce in his Monday evening monologue.
“But just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”
‘Gets no advertising’
However scathing jokes on the expense of CBS brass wasn’t the issue, based on insiders.
As an alternative, the community’s bosses may now not abdomen the truth that Colbert has been plagued with an more and more dire scarcity of advertisers.
That’s regardless of Colbert’s No, 1 scores in his time slot and his standing as a key face for the Tiffany Community.
Ultimately, Paramount’s co-CEO George Cheeks determined to kill the present, sources stated.
“Colbert gets no advertising and late night is a tough spot,” stated an individual with direct information of CBS’s determination.
“Colbert might be No. 1, but who watches late night TV anymore?”
Some Democrats voiced suspicion, citing the host’s left-wing leanings and CBS proprietor Paramount’s pressing want to achieve an OK from the Trump administration for the merger with Skydance, the Hollywood studio behind the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.
“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery,” lefty Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on X.
“America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”
Skydance CEO David Ellison is the son of Donald Trump pal and tech billionaire Larry Ellison.
As The Submit first reported, CBS simply paid $16 million to Trump and has agreed to run tens of millions of {dollars} extra in MAGA-friendly adverts to settle the president’s lawsuit alleging that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited its 2024 interview with Kamala Harris to make her look higher.
Trump, in the meantime, celebrated Colbert’s canning in a Friday morning submit on Fact Social.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” the president wrote.
“His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”
Fervent denials
However regardless of Ellison’s Trump ties, sources stated Skydance and its companions at Redbird Capital — the non-public fairness agency that can assist run CBS as soon as the deal is cleared — solely heard the information of the present’s impending cancellation simply earlier than it was introduced late Thursday.
“Skydance had nothing to do with this,” one individual near the choice stated.
“Colbert loses $40 million to $50 million a year, so George Cheeks just decided to pull the plug.”
The present’s dominance in its time slot belies sharp declines in viewership as youthful viewers transfer away from conventional TV.
“The Late Show” boasts practically 2 million whole viewers and 200,000 viewers in the important thing 25-24 “demo” — making it No. 1 in its time slot.
However, that’s a pointy decline versus the numbers it racked up in its heyday.
The advert knowledge agency Guideline estimates that CBS’s late-night exhibits collectively drew $220 million in advert income in 2024 — simply half the $439 million they drew in 2018.
RedBird’s Jeff Shell, the previous head of NBCUniversal who will run the community as soon as the deal is completed, has been crunching the numbers and discovering that CBS is a “melting ice cube” with its losses and price overruns, a supply stated.
‘Truth-based’ flip
The plan is to boost CBS Sports activities and put money into “truth-based” information at a community that conservatives have lengthy ripped for its alleged liberal bias.
A Paramount spokesman declined to remark and wouldn’t deny that large losses have been tied to the present’s cancellation.
Trump’s lawsuit was impeding the approval of the deal by the Trump Federal Communications Fee.
The Submit has realized that Ellison is now telling folks that with the lawsuit settled the Skydance-Paramount deal will get FCC approval by mid-August.
Whereas Ellison is predicting imminent regulatory approval, it should come at a value: FCC chairman Brendan Carr is more likely to demand circumstances to treatment what he believes is left-wing information bias in programming that violates company “public interest” guidelines that govern native broadcasting versus cable.
