The world of media and entertainment industry in the United States is in shock, after CBS announced that in May 2026 the successful program of Stephen Colbert will come to an end, and also, the franchise “The Late Show” that had started in 1993 with David Letterman.
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The decision marks the end of over three decades of original nighttime production on the network and according to CBS, which is owned by Paramount, the decision was attributed “exclusively to economic reasons”.
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In an official statement, the network made it clear that Colbert will not be replaced: “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘The Late Show’ franchise in May 2026”. They added that this is a decision made in a “challenging context for the format,” unrelated to the quality of the content.
The information was communicated to Colbert himself on Wednesday night, as a source told Variety. During the taping of Thursday’s episode, the host shared the news with his audience: “It’s not just the end of our show, but the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. I’m not been replace. This is just going to end.” When the audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater, located in the heart of Manhattan, started booing, Colbert replied, “yeah, I share your feelings.”
A trend that impacts the entire nighttime format
The cancellation of Colbert, who started the show in 2015 replacing Letterman, adds to a series of changes that reflect the transformation of television consumption in the United States. The young audience has quickly migrated towards streaming platforms, leaving behind fixed schedules and cable or broadcast television. In fact, during the last month, streaming consumption surpassed traditional formats for the first time as the preferred method to watch audiovisual content.
According to data from The New York Times, if in 2018 late-night shows were receiving an advertising revenue of $439 million, that figure dropped to $220 million in 2024.
CBS had already started to cut back on its late-night offerings. Recently, it decided not to continue with “After Midnight,” a program hosted by Taylor Tomlinson that aired after the “Late Show”.
In this environment, the production costs of late-night shows are becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Although late-night hosts like Jimmy Fallon (NBC), Jimmy Kimmel (ABC), and Colbert himself still generate impact and viral content, the investment required to sustain this type of format is no longer as profitable.
In any case, Colbert’s “Late Show” was the audience leader in the time slot from 11:30 pm to 12:30 am.
Political suspicions in CBS decision
Beyond financial arguments, the cancellation of Colbert’s “Late Show” has sparked speculation about possible political motivations. Last month, Variety reported that rumors emerged suggesting that both Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart were under increased scrutiny by executives at Skydance Media, a company that is in the process of acquiring Paramount Global.
Stewart, former colleague of Colbert, hosts “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central on Mondays, a channel that is also owned by Paramount.
Skydance CEO David Ellison has been identified as having a stance closer to President Donald Trump’s ideology, a constant target of jokes and criticism, as well as members of his administration, by Colbert and also by Stewart on their respective shows.
In addition to that, at the beginning of July, Paramount and Donald Trump reached an agreement in which the company will pay $16 million to the President of the United States, in exchange for dropping a lawsuit against the news program “60 Minutes.”
Colbert criticized and was sarcastic on his show about the decision, and a few days ago he referred to it as a “huge, enormous bribe” aimed at pleasing the Trump administration to approve the sale of Paramount to Skydance.
For the same reason, several Democratic lawmakers questioned CBS’s motives for ending the program. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, a guest on Thursday, July 17, said that “if Paramount and CBS ended ‘The Late Show’ for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And they deserve something better.”
Another Democratic senator, Elizabeth Warren, commented on social media that “CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert criticized CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for its $16 million deal with Trump, a deal that seems like a bribe... The United States deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”