CBS Defends Colbert Cancellation With $40 Million Loss, Citing $15 Million Allen Deal
Updated
Updated · Deadline · May 29
CBS Defends Colbert Cancellation With $40 Million Loss, Citing $15 Million Allen Deal
3 articles · Updated · Deadline · May 29
$40 million in annual losses at The Late Show were disclosed by CBS for the first time as it defended canceling Stephen Colbert and replacing him with Byron Allen’s leased 11:30 p.m. hour.
$15 million a year from Allen’s “time buy” turns that slot into fixed profit for CBS, which said the shift creates a $55 million swing because Allen now bears the ad-sales risk.
878,000 viewers watched Comics Unleashed across its first two half-hours on May 22, far below Colbert’s 6.74 million finale audience but closer to The Late Show’s 2.14 million season average before the finale.
65% declines in late-night ad revenue over six years undercut the economics of keeping the show in-house, though CBS still faces criticism that politics and the pending Skydance-Paramount deal drove the decision.
Is Byron Allen’s cost-cutting model the future of late-night TV, or a sign of creative decline for major networks?
Byron Allen is buying BuzzFeed and saving CBS, but can his debt-laden empire truly challenge giants like YouTube and Disney?