CBS just handed Stephen Colbert the most brutal farewell a network could offer, and it should end all the debate over how and why Colbert got canceled.
Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed officially took over CBS’s 11:35 p.m. late-night slot on Friday, May 22, under a new “time buy” deal with the network. Under the arrangement, Allen Media Group pays CBS for the time period, handles all production costs itself, and controls the advertising inventory. This means that CBS doesn’t have to spend a dime.
That’s a pretty sharp contrast from what Colbert cost it.
CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show back in July 2025, citing financial reasons. The network said the program was hemorrhaging roughly $40 million a year. At the time, some on the left insisted that the move was political. In their minds, CBS, an anti-Trump network, was doing President Donald Trump a favor by getting rid of one of his critics.
But CBS (again) demolished that narrative.
“With this ‘time buy’ model, we have shifted an hour that was losing roughly $40 million annually to $15 million in profit — a $55 million swing,” the spokesperson said, calling it “a new business and programming model for late night that proactively addresses a network daypart that was cost prohibitive to continue.”
So in axing Colbert, the network turned the whole slot profitable. It sure sounds like CBS has now been unburdened by what has been.
Hellbound and Down 