Late-night programs facing extinction as viewers abandon traditional TV viewing

A number of liberal media columns printed this week have rejected the idea that the hanging cancellation of “The Late Present with Stephen Colbert” is because of politics, with the argument that that is as a result of decline of late-night packages and TV basically.

A visitor of the New York Occasions by Puck Media Founding Associate William Cohan and a column by Megan Mcardle van de Washington Submit insisted that the present from jackets and cash misplaced due to individuals who depart the normal TV – which states that that is the “main” motive for cancellation.

“That, and never the politics of Colbert, is a very powerful factor it’s best to consider if you ask why the present was canceled. The massive default of the previous networks and cable packages meant that exhibits within the late evening had been not a sizzling media possession, however an financial legal responsibility,” Mcardle wrote Wednesday.

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Columns within the Washington Submit and New York Occasions Goten Goten this week chilly water over the allegations that the late evening present of Stephen Colbert is canceled due to the host’s anti-Trump politics. (The Late Present with Stephen Colbert/CBS)

In his Tuesday piece, Said Cohan“I believe that Mr Colbert’s downfall had extra to do with the ever-challenging financial system of conventional Late-Evening tv than bending the knee, once more for the Trump administration.”

The 2 opinions are in battle with these of Colbert defenders who’ve speculated that the present of the final evening’s host is on the chopping block because of the liberal and anti-Trump content material that he places in his present.

CBS introduced final Thursday that it could cancel “The Late Present” on the finish of the broadcasting season.

The community clarified that the cancellation was “purely a monetary choice in opposition to a difficult background within the late evening” and observed: “It’s on no account associated to the efficiency, content material or different issues of the present on Paramount.”

The information comes weeks after CBS and Paramount President Donald Trump have paid a settlement of $ 16 million after his lawsuit in opposition to the information community for broadcasting a processed interview with former vice -president Kamala Harris previous to the 2024 elections.

Schiff, Warren calls for whether or not CBS Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Present’ ends for ‘political causes’, Stephen Colbert

The Ed Sullivan Theater, the place the ‘Late Present’ has been recorded dwell, is in Midtown Manhattan on July 18, 2025 in New York Metropolis. It known as a monetary choice, CBS introduced that it’s going to put an finish to ‘The late present with Stephen Colbert’ and Retire ‘The Late Present’ in Could 2026. (Spencer Platt/Getty photos)

Puck Information journalist Matt Belloni reported final week that the present “misplaced greater than $ 40 million a 12 months.”

Mcardle confirmed the rationale for the community to cancel jacket. She wrote that “The Late Outlets” Rankings “fell from 3.1 million viewers within the 2017-2018 season to 1.9 million final 12 months, with just a few hundred thousand viewers within the essential 18-49 phase that advertisers need. Promoting collars descended in the identical approach by round 40 p.c, the present to a reported $ 40 million” “

She continued and observed that the community would have been reluctant to cut back this system of Colbert if the status and buzz generated.

“However it could have been a lot tougher to cancel a present that earned the community some huge cash or at the least status and Buzz generated. By the point CBS pulled the plug, exhibits didn’t even do this in late evening.”

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Cohan argued that reducing jacket was clearly a approach for the dad or mum firm of CBS, Paramount World, to avoid wasting prices, because it expressed that it could do.

“Final 12 months the corporate wished to avoid wasting prices by $ 500 million and mentioned it could cut back its workforce by 15 p.c, or by 2,000 staff,” he wrote. “Final month it introduced a workforce of an additional 3.5 p.c. Mr. Colbert would definitely not have been exterior the explosion zone of those cutbacks, particularly given the losses of the present.”

He continued: “Though Mr. Colbert remains to be number one late at evening, many people don’t have a look at CBS at 11:35 am at evening. We’re busy sleeping, or glued to Tiktok or X or YouTube or no matter. The figures proof that reality-the Rankings for the previous few years are in recent times.”

Cohan predicted that the identical destiny will come throughout the opposite essential community of the community. “You’ll be able to ensure that what occurred to Mr. Colbert is a harbinger of what’s coming for Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers, I’m sorry to inform.”

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CBS didn’t instantly reply to FOX Information Digital’s request for feedback.