Even with the weekend to course of, Hollywood continues to be in shock over CBS cancelling The Late Present With Stephen Colbert. The long-running speak present was successful its timeslot comfortably within the rankings and was broadly thought-about a flagship present for the community, however none of that was sufficient to maintain it on the air. It’ll formally finish in Might of 2026, although the why behind all of it continues to be a fierce matter of debate.
When CBS introduced the cancellation, it stated it was purely a monetary determination, however to many followers, the timing of all of it is sort of curious. The community is in the midst of a deliberate merger with Skydance, a media firm run by the Ellison Household, who’ve shut private ties to President Trump. Earlier the identical week, Colbert blasted CBS for settling a lawsuit with the President over a 60 Minutes story and paying $16M towards his Presidential Library. He known as the cash a “large fats bribe” and used different colourful language to make it clear he was upset in his bosses.
Instantly after the cancellation, The Writers Guild Of America launched a press release calling on New York State Legal professional Basic Letitia James to launch an investigation into the cancellation and whether or not it was resulting from “political strain.” Distinguished Democratic politicians took to social media to say they had been frightened in regards to the free speech implications of Colbert being muzzled and joined the requires additional investigation. These considerations had been additionally shared loudly and persistently by celebrities and customary followers throughout the Web within the days after the cancellation.
New alleged details about The Late Present With Stephen Colbert’s funds are beginning to emerge, nonetheless, they usually appear to assist CBS’ competition that there was a cash downside. Sources instructed CNN that the present was shedding cash, and over the past 12 months, advert charges have began “cratering” on late night time tv. The late night time reveals throughout the most important networks reportedly introduced in $439M in advert income in 2018 however simply $220M in 2024. That’s a large shortfall in earnings and an enormous downside for a dwell present that requires a big devoted employees to run.
I haven’t seen anybody at CBS launch particular monetary numbers for The Late Present, however all of the rumblings appear to color the identical image. Advert charges have fallen quite a bit and are persevering with to fall. Plenty of TV networks have been capable of mitigate that for some reveals by promoting the streaming rights, however folks aren’t actually desirous about watching previous episodes of late night time speak reveals. Clips going viral is usually a income on social media, however advert charges on pre-rolls simply aren’t sufficient given one thing like The Late Present’s price range.
Finally, we don’t know what occurred right here. If CBS and all of the unnamed sources are to be believed, the present was shedding cash, and if the community thought the scenario was solely going to worsen, you may see why executives made the choice to maneuver on. That being stated, given the frankness Colbert has in criticizing President Trump and his personal bosses, in addition to the timing of CBS’ settlement and the upcoming merger, it’s straightforward to see why many individuals suppose there’s extra to this than simply {dollars} and cents. In actual fact, it’s all the time potential that each causes performed a task.
Anticipate to listen to much more about this story within the coming months. With nothing to lose, it’s potential Colbert can be even louder in his rhetoric than he has been, and with all this curiosity, it’s probably a number of journalists will try to essentially dive in and determine precisely what occurred.