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CBS Exec Comments On ‘Late Show’ Cancellation, Said It ‘Wasn’t Sustainable’
Daily Wire ^ | Aug 7, 2025 | Amanda Harding

Posted on 08/07/2025 2:49:40 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

President and CEO of CBS George Cheeks said the show was losing 'tens of millions of dollars.'

George Cheeks, the president and CEO of CBS, discussed the cancellation of “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert at a press conference on Thursday. His statements come on the same day that Paramount Global and Skydance Media finalized their $8.4 billion merger.

“The challenge in late night is that the advertising marketplace is in significant secular decline,” Cheeks said following the deal closing, per Deadline. “We are huge fans of Colbert, we love the show, unfortunately the economics made it a challenge for us to keep going.”

“I know [Skydance] is going to invest, but they’re going to invest cautiously and wisely, so for me, managing this business is really important for me to double down the area’s road in broadcast intriguing, which really is primetime and sports,” the CBS exec continued.

Despite speculation from mainstream media and Colbert himself that the cancellation was politically motivated, Cheeks said it all came down to money.

He didn’t give the exact amount that “The Late Show” was losing, but said during the press conference that it was a “significant” amount in the “tens of millions of dollars.”

“At the end of the day, it just wasn’t sustainable to continue,” Cheeks concluded.

Last month, Paramount Global agreed to a $16 million settlement in a lawsuit Trump had brought that accused the media outlet of election interference. The lawsuit stemmed from an interview CBS News’s “60 Minutes” conducted with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris one month before the 2024 election. The lawsuit alleged that the interview was edited to make it seem more coherent than it really was.

“People have been speculating about the timing of this decision from Paramount, and they’re pointing out that last Monday, just two days before...

(Excerpt) Read more at dailywire.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: cancellation; cbs; colbert; latenight; whosnext

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1 posted on 08/07/2025 2:49:40 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Biden said he was paying to keep MSM on the air


2 posted on 08/07/2025 2:53:37 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I have absolutely no idea of the makeup of today’s late-night TV advertising. Do they still show the same couple of commercials every six or seven minutes?


3 posted on 08/07/2025 2:56:47 PM PDT by ComputerGuy
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“We are huge fans of Colbert, we love the show, “

That’s the problem CBS.

Face it, without the old people watching reruns of NCIS they’d have no audience.


4 posted on 08/07/2025 2:59:18 PM PDT by Fledermaus ("It turns out all we really needed was a new President!")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
wasn’t sustainable

Sustainable! One of the woke wokesters favorite words. If the show wasn't sustainable, then according to the Left, the show contributed to Globull Warming.

What's next? The show wasn't equitable? Wasn't BIPOC enough?

5 posted on 08/07/2025 3:21:42 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try - AND - Every Time You Fall Down, Get The Frak Up! )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Wonder why they didn’t make Colbert do cut backs and layoffs to trim the 200 person entourage he has to do the show?

Is it because he was attacking President Trump and hoped to get him not elected?


6 posted on 08/07/2025 3:29:29 PM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: ComputerGuy

Pfizer ads, lots of Pfizer ads.


7 posted on 08/07/2025 3:30:09 PM PDT by packrat35 (Pureblood! No clot shot for me!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Aww, nobody wanted to watch agitprop disguised as a talk show hosted by a disgusting little rat? I wonder why?


8 posted on 08/07/2025 3:32:30 PM PDT by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man, but it's ok---- I wasn't married to it.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Colbert had more staff than the King of Persia.


9 posted on 08/07/2025 3:34:45 PM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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To: ComputerGuy

“”””I have absolutely no idea of the makeup of today’s late-night TV advertising.””””

Popeil Pocket Fisherman. Sham Wow. Vega-matic. Maybe.

I don’t watch so I don’t know.


10 posted on 08/07/2025 3:35:35 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: shelterguy

The Pocket Fisherman made a great Christmas present.
It was right up there with the Whoopee Cushion.


11 posted on 08/07/2025 4:04:05 PM PDT by ComputerGuy
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
CBS' CEO was named "George Cheeks".

I'm sure his classmates had a field day.

12 posted on 08/07/2025 4:05:14 PM PDT by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Socialism never is


13 posted on 08/07/2025 4:05:59 PM PDT by Feckless (The US Gubbmint / This TagliCanne CENSORED by FR \ IrOnic, ain't it?)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The show cost $100 million and employed 200 people.
They were losing $40 million.

Why couldn’t the look at cost cutting?

If they cut $50 million, perhaps the show would have been viable.

Cut Stephen Colbert’s salary from $20 million to $5 million. Then look for another $35 million elsewhere.
A staff of 200 probably cost $50 million. Cut it in half and then you just need another $15 millon to go.

I’m no fan of his show, but I find it bizarre that they didn’t try cost cutting. I guess it simply isn’t in their DNA. If only USAID were still around.


14 posted on 08/07/2025 4:14:50 PM PDT by Tai_Chung
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I don’t think it is SeeBS’s job to make ColdBear rich for doing nothing but trashing the American people while kissing illegal alien azz.


15 posted on 08/07/2025 5:13:26 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (They brought down the WTC now we're electing them to all government positions in the U.S.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
I don’t think it is SeeBS’s job to make ColdBear rich for doing nothing but trashing the American people while kissing illegal alien azz.

Apparently, CBS thought it was for a number of years. Now, the Chickens have come home to roost.

16 posted on 08/07/2025 5:47:22 PM PDT by Ditto
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