The final couple of months have seen the Paramount/Skydance merger progress because the 2025 TV schedule continues to unfold. Contemplating what’s been reported so far, it appears CBS may look very totally different by the point 2026 arrives. There was the high-profile CBS Information resignation linked to 60 Minutes in addition to The Late Present‘s shock cancellation. Now, it has been alleged that the Eye Community will half methods with one other huge title following the Stephen Colbert drama.
If this rumor is to be believed, CBS Mornings could possibly be chopping ties with co-host Gayle King. Per The New York Publish, sources near the morning present program declare that this purported determination stems from the types of company being booked for the sequence. A latest episode that noticed Bob the Drag Queen selling his youngsters’s e book was particularly cited. An unnamed supply shared this supposed mandate for the Paramount/Skydance period:
The viewers doesn’t need woke. It doesn’t like progressive and provocative bookings. The morning present viewers desires optimism and cheer and pleasure and what they have been producing is at odds with viewers expectations.
This purported rule for CBS Mornings appears to align with Jay Leno’s remarks about political humor. On the entire, this all feeds into Skydance execs’ alleged attitudes in direction of CBS Information, its programming, and its expertise. That report supposedly referred to as out Stephen Colbert and different hosts for “act[ing] as in the event that they’re the IP.” With that in thoughts, a choice to not renew Gayle King’s contract would presumably be a transfer in direction of the “fundamentals” that this new company entity reportedly desires.
It additionally doesn’t assist that the numbers offered in regard to CBS Mornings’ larger image would theoretically align with one other concern: funds. Supposedly, the present’s scores within the 25-to-54 12 months previous demographic have decreased. There’s reportedly been a lack of “between 20% and 30% of their viewers” when in comparison with the place the present was at this level in 2024.
Couple that with King’s latest contract renewal for a determine reportedly between “$13 million and $15 million,” and it appears like two dreaded phrases have returned to the forefront: “monetary determination.”
The one-two punch of supposedly not delivering what the viewers desires, whereas additionally signing is hosts for reportedly tidy sums, doesn’t look good for CBS Mornings. Nevertheless, no strikes have been made on this entrance, as Gayle King’s destiny is solely rumour.
With Paramount/Skydance’s merger nonetheless pending ultimate approvals, the would-be company household is lining up its administration to guide the cost into its new period. Ought to these rumors be true, it appears like Jimmy Kimmel’s prediction on late night time’s future is perhaps one thing we must always take into accout for the realm of morning exhibits as effectively.
What we can say is that Gayle King’s newest contract is about to run out in Could 2026 – the identical month through which The Late Present with Stephen Colbert will end its run. So we’ll simply have to attend and see what develops on this time of reorganization and shaping of company imaginative and prescient.