In the days before David Ellison bought Paramount, CBS fired Stephen Colbert. According to the network, it was “purely a financial decision.” Colbert responded that it was “reasonable” to assume that there were influential policies; CBS just settled a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over A.J 60 minutes Ellison needed (and still needs) a Trump-era Justice Department to allow his media empire to grow. Few TV personalities have been as harsh on Trump as Colbert, which is really saying something.
So CBS is replaced Late Showwhich concludes its 33-year run of events (22 of them with founding host David Letterman) next month, with a Byron Allen panel show Comics unleashed In a time buy deal. In other words, it is Allen pays CBS For airtime (and hopefully money back via commercials) and not the other way around. This may be a very temporary solution for 11:30.
With only a one-season deal with Allen, CBS is “developing other ideas” for the 11:30 p.m. slot, George Cheeks, Paramount’s president of television media, said Wednesday during a news conference.
Cheeks cited the “instant profitability” (again, due to Allen’s hourly hire) that came with this arrangement as “making a lot of sense for us right now.” He said CBS “considered everything” regarding the post-Colbert period, which included rebroadcasts and even retime for local affiliates. Late Show I’ll wrap next month.
But Cheeks, who was previously one of three interim CEOs of Paramount Global, wants you to know he’s not giving up late at night. He’s just ditched the old financial structure — The Colbert Show, for example, employs 200 people.
“I grew up late at night. I grew up late at night,” Cheeks said. “I believe in late night. I think the reality is that the reach is still there, but the reach is primarily on YouTube, which is not monetized. So if we want to get back into that space, we have to get back into that space with a different financial model.”
Cech said everything is on the table. the Comics unleashed It is of course possible to extend this arrangement beyond the terms of the current deal.
Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, was quick to say that these secret alternative concepts are not in “active development,” but are “just conversations at this point.”
Well, you guys have a year.
