As The Writers Guild Calls For An Investigation Into Colbert's Late Show Cancellation, Allegations Of An Ugly Financial Picture Are Starting To Emerge
Even with the weekend to process, Hollywood is still in shock over CBS cancelling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The long-running talk show was winning its timeslot comfortably in the ratings and was widely considered a flagship show for the network, but none of that was enough to keep it on the air. It'll officially end in May of 2026, though the why behind it all is still a fierce matter of debate.
When CBS announced the cancellation, it said it was purely a financial decision, but to many fans, the timing of it all is quite curious. The network is in the middle of a planned merger with Skydance, a media company run by the Ellison Family, who have close personal ties to President Trump. Earlier the same week, Colbert blasted CBS for settling a lawsuit with the President over a 60 Minutes story and paying $16M toward his Presidential Library. He called the money a 'big fat bribe' and used other colorful language to make it clear he was disappointed in his bosses.
Immediately after the cancellation, The Writers Guild Of America released a statement calling on New York State Attorney General Letitia James to launch an investigation into the cancellation and whether it was due to 'political pressure.' Prominent Democratic politicians took to social media to say they were worried about the free speech implications of Colbert being muzzled and joined the calls for further investigation. Those concerns were also shared loudly and consistently by celebrities and common fans across the Internet in the days after the cancellation.
New alleged information about The Late Show With Stephen Colbert's finances are starting to emerge, however, and they seem to support CBS' contention that there was a money problem. Sources told CNN that the show was losing money, and over the last year, ad rates have started 'cratering' on late night television. The late night shows across the major networks reportedly brought in $439M in ad revenue in 2018 but just $220M in 2024. That's a massive shortfall in earnings and a huge problem for a live show that requires a large dedicated staff to run.
I haven't seen anyone at CBS release specific financial numbers for The Late Show, but all the rumblings seem to paint the same picture. Ad rates have fallen a lot and are continuing to fall. A lot of TV networks have been able to mitigate that for some shows by selling the streaming rights, but people aren't really interested in watching old episodes of late night talk shows. Clips going viral can be a source of revenue on social media, but ad rates on pre-rolls just aren't enough given something like The Late Show's budget.
Ultimately, we don't know what happened here. If CBS and all the unnamed sources are to be believed, the show was losing money, and if the network thought the situation was only going to get worse, you can see why executives made the decision to move on. That being said, given the frankness Colbert has in criticizing President Trump and his own bosses, as well as the timing of CBS' settlement and the upcoming merger, it's easy to see why many people think there's more to this than just dollars and cents. In fact, it's always possible that both reasons played a role.
Expect to hear a lot more about this story in the coming months. With nothing to lose, it's possible Colbert will be even louder in his rhetoric than he has been, and with all this interest, it's likely several journalists will attempt to really dive in and figure out exactly what happened.
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