Colbert Bombshell Cancellation Raises New Questions About Paramount Merger, Free Speech

The economics of late night TV have shifted, but the decision to drop Colbert looks like further capitulation to Trump to silence one of his loudest and most famous critics

By Brian Lowry and Sharon Waxman

Stephen Colbert’s top-rated late night talk show will come to an end next year, a bombshell decision that raises more questions than it answers in terms of corporate motives, timing and what it says about the state of network television –  even if you take everything that CBS said at face value, which many people surely won’t.

CBS’ announcement on Thursday evening that “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” will conclude next year, after its 11th season on the network, comes three days after the host accused the network’s parent, Paramount Global, of paying a “big fat bribe” to President Donald Trump by settling his lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” segment broadcast during the presidential campaign.

Colbert leveled that charge because Paramount is seeking to finalize an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, creating the impression that it bowed to pressure from Trump in order to smooth the way for that transaction. But the FCC still has not approved the deal, and the cancellation of Colbert — a leading, nightly critic of Trump — comes as the deadline ticks toward the expiration of the merger. 

CBS said that the reason for the cancellation was “purely financial." It “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” said co-CEO George Cheeks, president of CBS Entertainment Amy Reisenbach and president of CBS Studios David Stapf in a joint statement.

You could almost hear the Twitterverse roll its eyes. 

Although the economics of late night television have shifted, as evidenced by other cuts relating to rival shows and the cancellation of CBS’ “After Midnight,” the decision to drop Colbert is, at worst, further capitulation to Trump to silence one of his loudest and most famous critics and a damning blow to free speech.

At best, it’s a “lights out” moment for network television. Taking CBS at its word, if the highest-rated show in late night is such a money loser that it has decided to scrap a franchise launched when David Letterman joined the network in 1993, then what does that mean for the rest of broadcast TV?

In May, NBC's Seth Meyers acknowledged the financial pressure that he and his late night brethren face, telling TheWrap, "We’re very clear eyed about the world we’re living in. We also see these canaries in the coal mine. It was really sad to see 'After Midnight' go because it was so cool that they gave it to somebody like Taylor [Tomlinson], who’s an incredible voice and there were three new comedians every day on that show, which is so important as well.”

As late night television veteran Bill Carter, the author of two books about the daypart, noted on social media: "The financial side of that business has definitely been under pressure, as CBS release asserts, but if CBS believes it can escape without some serious questions about capitulating to Trump, they are seriously deluded."

An insider at a rival late night show told TheWrap, "Hard to believe if it were purely a financial decision, this is the week they'd choose to announce it."

Indeed, the emphasis on the bottom line seemingly ignores intangible factors, including prestige — Colbert recently received another Emmy nomination, with this year's awards to air on CBS — and what such a move does to perceptions of the network and its management team.

Many other questions loom large over this news: 

• Why cancel Colbert at all, given his popularity as a brand and a star of the network, despite the financial challenge? 
• Why cancel the show right now, leaving the comic 10 months of runway to criticize his corporate parent along with the president?
• What are the implications for other late night shows? 
• What are the implications for free expression and the pressure on comedians with prominent platforms who comment on politics? 
• Will Jon Stewart, on the Paramount-owned Comedy Central cable station, be next? 

In sharing the news with his disappointed audience, Colbert echoed CBS by saying that he would not be replaced, but rather that the entire franchise would be going away. 

While CBS lacks the history in late night that NBC has thanks to “The Tonight Show,” which dates back to the infancy of television, couching the decision entirely as a cost-cutting move seemingly ignores the intangibles of the way networks utilize their late night hosts. Rest assured, there will be seismic repercussions of ending this show that will ripple through the entertainment, media and political communities whose biggest names have sat across from Colbert at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater.

A CBS insider told TheWrap that late night advertising fell off a cliff four years ago, and that the “Late Show” has been losing money despite its strong ratings and huge following on social media and YouTube. This person declined to say how much the show was losing. 

The insider said that the reason for announcing the cancellation now had nothing to do with pressure around the Paramount-Skydance merger and only to do with giving Colbert time to prepare for his departure, while providing the show’s writers time to seek out new deals. 

But another CBS insider confessed: "It's upsetting," noting: "It’s hard not to make all these connections. Trump has said all the late night guys should be fired."

This person added that it was odd to watch the successive capitulation to Trump's pressure, including by some of America's most powerful organizations. "We’re just like wooden soldiers falling down," said this insider.

Whatever the underlying rationale, it won't help, in terms of public-relations fallout, that Trump will almost surely claim "victory," as he has in similar situations that have involved bending (or breaking) the truth. Indeed, with the president on the defensive over the Jeffrey Epstein case and facing sliding poll numbers on issues like immigration and the economy, it would be hard for him to resist gloating over the cancellation of such a prominent critic, if only to send a message to others about the perils of crossing him.

No doubt some will continue to probe more deeply. In fact many critical issues around this decision will be explored in the days and weeks ahead, including:

Did Paramount cut a backroom deal with Skydance to do its dirty work now, before the merger closes? That would dovetail with a recent report in Status News that the prospective owner and its Trump-friendly management were considering cutting loose Colbert and his friend and mentor, “The Daily Show’s” Stewart, in order to mollify Trump.

What will an unfettered, zero f—ks-to-give Colbert do with another 10 months as host?

What does the CBS decision augur for the other late night franchises — not just Stewart, but also (and especially) ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s Meyers, who have also been pointed Trump critics, of which the president has frequently taken note.

What chilling effect might this decision have on other anti-Trump voices, especially in light of parallel attempts to silence media outlets, from the president's various lawsuits to Congress’ action to defund public broadcasting?

The Colbert news shared the spotlight with another huge media story on Thursday: The Wall Street Journal’s exclusive on Trump’s relationship with Epstein, amid all the tumult surrounding the Epstein files' release.

That story, featuring a birthday wish from Trump to Epstein in 2003 that included a reference to a “wonderful secret,” prompted Trump to threaten the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper with litigation, touting in a Truth Social post that he had “already beaten” ABC and CBS via their settlements.

As it happened, Colbert’s guest on Thursday was California Sen. Adam Schiff, who immediately questioned the reason for the announcement on X, as did several other prominent Democrats, tweeting, “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.

The juxtaposition of the latest Trump-Epstein disclosure bought CBS, Paramount and Skydance a little time, deflecting the focus on the Colbert news, which, on any other day, would be treated as a major bombshell beyond just the TV press.

The lingering questions, however, are going to need answers, and probably a whole lot sooner than Colbert’s scheduled 10-months-away sign-off date.