[NEWS] CBS cancels "Late Show With Stephen Colbert"

"Financial decision" ...
translation: greedy-ass Stephen Colbert wanted a lot more money and we're not paying.
    CBS to Cancel 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert'
    Citing 'Financial Decision'
    ----------------------------------------------
    TV's ongoing problems with late night have come for Stephen Colbert,
    with CBS announcing Thursday that it plans to end his "Late Show"
    after the next TV season, citing a "financial decision."
    The maneuver - which ends years of original late-night programming
    at CBS that started when the network lured David Letterman from NBC
    in 1993 - comes as the economics of wee-hours TV have begun to
    accelerate, with media companies growing wary of the high price tags
    involved in producing the shows while the young viewers they try to
    attract watch more of them via digital video.
    "We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire 'The Late
    Show' franchise" in May of 2026, CBS executives said in a statement.
    "We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast
    will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night
    television.  This is purely a financial decision against a
    challenging backdrop in late night.  It is not related in any way to
    the show's performance, content or other matters happening at
    Paramount."
    Colbert, who was informed of the network's decision Wednesday
    evening, according to a person familiar with the matter, told the
    audience at the taping for Thursday's broadcast about the matter.
    "It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it," he
    quipped, while offering thanks to CBS executives and the 200 or so
    staffers who work on his program.
    Audience members booed. ""Yeah, I share your feelings," said Colbert.
    "It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of 'The Late
    Show' on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away."
    There has been growing speculation that both Colbert and Jon Stewart,
    who hosts one broadcast of Comedy Central's "Daily Show" each week,
    could be under growing scrutiny from executives at Skydance Media,
    which is slated to acquire Paramount Global, the parent of both CBS
    and Comedy Central. David Ellison, who leads Skydance, has projected
    an image of being intrigued by the politics espoused by President
    Donald Trump, who Colbert and Stewart routinely skewer in monologues
    and commentary.
    Indeed, Senator Adam Schiff, the California Democrat, took to social
    media Thursday after taping a "Late Show" broadcast and said: "If
    Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the
    public deserves to know. And deserves better."
    CBS has already been winding down its activity around midnight. The
    network recently cancelled "After Midnight," a companion program
    that aired after "Late Show" and featured comedian Taylor Tomlinson.
    She decided to leave to focus on her own stand-up, even though CBS
    had sought a third season of the show.
    It's no secret among staffers and executives associated with late
    night that the business of the format has been in decline. Young
    people are the very consumers jumping first to new streaming
    behaviors that are less tied to watching programs at a specific time
    and date. Hosts like Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Colbert continue
    to generate headlines and digital memes and still build sizable live
    audiences that the networks- and their distributors and advertisers
    - covet. But less so, and the ranks of the hosts have narrowed in
    recent years. So too have episodes of the shows. None of the medium's
    regular hosts holds forth on Fridays any longer, with Fallon's
    "Tonight" the last to give up the fifth night of the week.
    Still, CBS' decision has puzzled others in the industry. The exit of
    a popular late-night host is the kind of thing that might be
    announced during "upfront" meetings with advertisers in May, so as to
    boost interest in the program for its last year on air. Indeed,
    Johnny Carson unveiled his decision to leave NBC's "Tonight Show" at
    a presentation to advertisers in 1991. David Letterman was celebrated
    at one of CBS' regular upfront spectacles at Carnegie Hall, a decision
    that helped whet appetites for his last few months on "Late Show."
    Some networks with a big hand in the late-night game continue to gain
    support for their shows. NBC wooed Allstate, T-Mobile and several
    other big-spending advertisers to bolster the recently completed 50th
    season of "Saturday Night Live." The network is trying to do the same
    thing with a new program featuring "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon
    called "On Brand" that has him trying to help market popular products.
    Colbert will next year wind up a colorful run. When he took over "Late
    Show" in 2015, he had to navigate a new role. He was no longer the
    bloviating conservative character he portrayed on Comedy Central. He
    had to instead find ways to be his authentic self, even though he had
    not revealed such a persona to the public in the past. His first
    months were riddled with scrutiny, and comparisons to the "Late Late
    Show" led by James Corden that reveled in games and skits. But Colbert
    turned a corner in 2016 when he hosted an Election Night special on
    Showtime and had to entertain a live New York crowd that stared in
    disbelief at results showing that Donald Trump would triumph over
    Hillary Clinton.
    Colbert found his footing that night, and decided to lean heavily
    into pointed humor about current events. His ratings surged and "Late
    Show" has often been TV's most-watched late night program.
    Is CBS averse to ratings? Or is the money it costs to get them just
    too dear at a time when streaming video is taking more of traditional
    TV's audience away? CBS has opted to fill its now-empty 12:30 a.m.
    slot with old repeats of a syndicated comedy roundtable from media
    entrepreneur Byron Allen? What will the network do to replace "The
    Late Show"?
    <https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/cbs-cancel-late-show-stephen-colbert-financial-decision-1236464356/>