>Naively, these seem like contradictory statements.
It isn't contradictory. They don't want to publicly admit "hey nobody watched our unfunny show" because then it might impact their shares/valuation. Most likely that show was a loss leader.
“Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: It’s big fat bribe, because this all comes as Paramount owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance.”
maybe they are worried that Colbert will say things that are actionable and could lead to more lawsuits?
Crazy you're being downvoted for having a voice of wisdom, but HN is ideologically captured so not questioning the groupthink party line does give you the downvotes.
I'd worry more about defunding public broadcasting or the Washington Post editorial stance. There's a good faith argument here that the cause was market conditions:
> The genre has been struggling as the majority of the country migrates in droves to streaming entertainment and away from traditional broadcast and cable television...
> The number of late-night shows has dwindled in recent years...
> The genre has also experienced a sharp decline in advertising revenue in recent years...
do you feel it's a good faith argument for management to make at the same time as they're trying to get personal approval from Trump to sell the company[0], and shortly after they just paid him a massive personal bribe[1], and one day after the person who is having their show cancelled, said this on said show [2]?
I really did not expect that the credulity of Americans would be one of their downfalls.
Do "good faith arguments" really matter when the president is not exactly doing his best to show good faith? In this, and MANY other cases ... It's not like this administration is going to be convinced by a good faith argument, ever.
At some level, it is worse. The Indian press never sold us citizens koolaid about freedom, talking truth to power, and patted themselves on the back about winning Pulitzer Prizes for journalism.
The Indian press knows it is a bottom feeder and doesn’t try not to be which gives space for critical thought to emerge (even if it masked as extreme cynicism - “everyone is corrupt”) which results in extreme skepticism of everyone.
This is like telling someone to switch from Comcast to another ISP. The choices are limited. Oh and in this case, they're all owned by like two media conglomerates.
According to Keith Olbermann, a far-ish left progressive, on his podcast The Late Show's cancellation it really was primarily due to financial difficulties of it being too expensive in a declining industry of traditional media where there are barely any OTA TV or cable viewers. Their overhead is too much and their internet audiences don't make them enough money. This is a classic horse and buggy company failing to adapt to an automobile world.
He also made it known he doesn't care personally for Colbert who rapidly took a proverbial wrecking ball to David Letterman's set to effectively damnatio memoriae his predecessor and obliterate all potential memorabilia.
I’m not surprised that a late night host was let go, I’m surprised it was Colbert.
Jimmy Kimmel has a well documented history of racist and sexist skits. Every time a new video of his past emerges, it’s got to be an embarrassment for his network.
It’s currently the number one late night show. It’s not about money. It’s because the president pressured them after Colbert called the network out Tuesday for taking a bribe.
I think Gutfeld is number 1 overall, and has been for a while.
But TV ratings overall are down so low, I haven’t had cable since 2003, and at the time people thought I was a radical. Now it seems like the people that have cable are the rare ones, Especially if there is noone over 45 in the house.
There is a reason they all format their shows in a way that is easy to break up into youtube videos. If they didn’t, most kids under 30 wouldn't even know who they are
I'd never heard of Gutfeld - I'm a Brit - so checked it out - https://youtu.be/MflEEkCFtHY It doesn't seem very good..? The first few seconds is him jokinging insulting various democrats and the audience groaning.
His show airs much earlier than the others which is why it’s not really considered the top late night. The rankings I was referring to were the true late night shows. Gutfeld is basically prime time.
How can they be so expensive? Unless you mean in relation to ad revenue.
It's one host, maybe a band, they don't pay the guests cause their there to pitch their show/music/book/film. Maybe all the extra staff they need to write jokes and whatnot. Maybe all the drug advertisements really don't pay all that much anymore.
Late night talk shows are extremely cheap, compared to regular scripted television. It's one of the reasons why NBC was so excited about moving Jay Leno to 10pm when Conan took over The Tonight Show:
> The Jay Leno Show WILL be significantly cheaper than any primetime scripted show NBC could program. Primetime scripted programming usually costs about $3 million per hour; so the five hours NBC is revamping would total about $15 million per week. This new Leno show will cost NBC less than $2 million per week. ... So, not only does NBC get to KEEP its primetime hours, it gets to program them with a more cost-effective show.
Supposedly, Colbert makes $15 million a year, which is about $100,000 per episode. It's not really outrageous for a host of a national television program.
It's surprising that the most successful late night show is going away first, and the optics of it happening while Paramount is trying to curry favor with the Trump administration couldn't be worse.
At the heart of the dispute: a new 10-year, $3 billion overall deal for Parker and Stone that would more than triple the valuation of the current deal that expires in 2027
"One possible factor in the negotiations: an $800 million loan that Park County took in 2023 from private equity firm the Carlyle Group. Parker and Stone could be squeezed for cash to repay roughly $80 million in interest per year, according to one person knowledgeable of the arrangement, who noted that Paramount may be open to paying more than $150 million annually in a new deal but not for 10 years."
Apparently they needed to refinance a 600 million loan from 2021.
"The loan would be made through Carlyle’s credit arm and would refinance an existing $600 million debt facility provided by HPS Investment Partners in 2021, according to the report."
Honest, informed satire that's often more helpful in learning about real issues than "the news"; no surprise it's being cancelled. This and John Oliver are probably the last real holdouts in honest media in the current era, from what I've seen.
We used to back in the day. Comedy Central had Colbert Report and Daily Show. Redditors culminated the Rally to Restore Sanity and Reason Rally in DC where thousands of (mostly) millennials flocked to the live performances MCd by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
> "It is not related in any way to the show’s performance"
Naively, these seem like contradictory statements.
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