> "It is not related in any way to the show’s performance"
Naively, these seem like contradictory statements.
It isn't contradictory. They don't want to publicly admit "hey nobody watched our unfunny show" because then it might impact their shares/valuation. Most likely that show was a loss leader.
“Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: It’s big fat bribe, because this all comes as Paramount owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance.”
maybe they are worried that Colbert will say things that are actionable and could lead to more lawsuits?
Trump sues people even if things are not actionable. (And sometimes those people cave / bend the knee.)
> The genre has been struggling as the majority of the country migrates in droves to streaming entertainment and away from traditional broadcast and cable television...
> The number of late-night shows has dwindled in recent years...
> The genre has also experienced a sharp decline in advertising revenue in recent years...
I really did not expect that the credulity of Americans would be one of their downfalls.
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_merger_of_Skydance_Me...
1: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...
2: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jul/15/late-night-r...
The Indian press knows it is a bottom feeder and doesn’t try not to be which gives space for critical thought to emerge (even if it masked as extreme cynicism - “everyone is corrupt”) which results in extreme skepticism of everyone.
Perhaps Colbert will sign with another network and bring bigger and better ideas to the small screen.
When he did the White House Correspondents' Dinner and roasted George W Bush, that was extremely edgy. The Colbert Report was also wickedly funny.
But the Late Show makes John Oliver look like Lenny Bruce.
It's hardly a shrinking audience.
https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/late-night-tv-ratings-q...
IMO, Colbert is consistently funny. His style has always appealed to me.
He also made it known he doesn't care personally for Colbert who rapidly took a proverbial wrecking ball to David Letterman's set to effectively damnatio memoriae his predecessor and obliterate all potential memorabilia.
What's this about ? Letterman had the skyline behind his desk; was anything else memorable ?
Jimmy Kimmel has a well documented history of racist and sexist skits. Every time a new video of his past emerges, it’s got to be an embarrassment for his network.
Poor luck for Colbert.
Why the flagging?
But TV ratings overall are down so low, I haven’t had cable since 2003, and at the time people thought I was a radical. Now it seems like the people that have cable are the rare ones, Especially if there is noone over 45 in the house.
There is a reason they all format their shows in a way that is easy to break up into youtube videos. If they didn’t, most kids under 30 wouldn't even know who they are
It's one host, maybe a band, they don't pay the guests cause their there to pitch their show/music/book/film. Maybe all the extra staff they need to write jokes and whatnot. Maybe all the drug advertisements really don't pay all that much anymore.
> The Jay Leno Show WILL be significantly cheaper than any primetime scripted show NBC could program. Primetime scripted programming usually costs about $3 million per hour; so the five hours NBC is revamping would total about $15 million per week. This new Leno show will cost NBC less than $2 million per week. ... So, not only does NBC get to KEEP its primetime hours, it gets to program them with a more cost-effective show.
https://www.writersdigest.com/industry-updates/jay-leno-nbc-...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sou...
At the heart of the dispute: a new 10-year, $3 billion overall deal for Parker and Stone that would more than triple the valuation of the current deal that expires in 2027
Yeah. So that's not going to happen lol.
That's quite the loan.
"The loan would be made through Carlyle’s credit arm and would refinance an existing $600 million debt facility provided by HPS Investment Partners in 2021, according to the report."
What the hell have they been spending it on?
https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/17/14944994/stephen-colbe...
Or don't, whatever.. just be a chickenshit about it.
Which leaves just outright pressure.
Also not sure how being laid off for criticizing your host networks back channel deals with the White House makes you a corporate mouth piece, but what do I know.
Could not be a better example of how it leaned one way.
From what I saw, Gutfeld is top in that time slot, but not for late night overall.
I agree that cable is crazy to pay so much money for and still have frequent and long commercial interruptions.