CBS Outsources Late-Night Television Lineup to Cut Costs After Stephen Colbert
New York, Monday, 6 April 2026.
In a radical shift for broadcast economics, CBS is abandoning in-house late-night production, instead leasing its iconic time slots to media mogul Byron Allen to drastically reduce costs.
The End of an Era and a New Economic Reality
On Monday, April 6, 2026, Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA) announced that CBS will become the first major network to abandon the traditional late-night television format. Following the final broadcast of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” scheduled for May 21, 2026, the network will transition its 11:35 p.m. Eastern Time slot to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group beginning May 22, 2026. Through a “time-buy” agreement extending through the 2026-2027 television season, Allen’s company will cover all production costs, paying CBS for the airtime while retaining the majority of the commercial advertising units to sell directly.
Political Friction and Financial Pressures
The financial rationale, however, has been shadowed by political controversy since CBS initially announced the cancellation of “The Late Show” in July 2025. Days before the network’s announcement, Colbert heavily criticized a $16 million settlement paid by Paramount Global to the United States President, Donald Trump, to resolve a lawsuit that Paramount’s own lawyers had reportedly deemed meritless. On his broadcast, Colbert publicly characterized the payment as a “big fat bribe”.
Allen’s Evergreen Comedy Strategy
Stepping into the void left by Colbert’s departure is a decidedly different format. Starting May 22, 2026, CBS will broadcast back-to-back half-hour episodes of Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” at 11:35 p.m., followed by back-to-back episodes of the comedy game show “Funny You Should Ask” at 12:37 a.m. “Comics Unleashed,” which originally produced 233 episodes over a 10-year span, functions as a hybrid talk show and stand-up showcase. Meanwhile, “Funny You Should Ask,” hosted by Jon Kelley, has been an established property in first-run syndication since 2017.