How to make big, well, some bucks in late night? According to CBS, the trick is to cancel your traditional show and lease the time to someone else.
The Paramount Skydance broadcast outlet, which has been grilled for weeks over its decision to oust Stephen Colbert and cancel its long-running “Late Show,” says the move will swing its wee-hours business to a profit from a loss.
“We’re proud to partner with Byron Allen on a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost prohibitive to continue,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit — a $55 million swing.”
CBS has been ridiculed and criticized for weeks as Colbert wound down his program and invited guests who cast opprobrium at network executives. David Letterman, who hosted “Late Show” before Colbert, likened executives behind the cancellation decision to “lying weasels” during an appearance in the waning days of the program.
Much of the industry believes Colbert was cancelled not because of the financial reasons CBS touts but due to a desire by Paramount executives to flatter President Donald Trump, known to dislike late-night comics who poke fun at him and his policies. Colbert was heavily reliant on political humor — a move that helped “Late Show” win more viewers overall than rivals like NBC’s “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”a and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Indeed, Colbert’s facility with hot, headline-heavy topics helped reverse CBS’ fortunes in late night.
