Stephen Colbert’s Late Show has been axed. But what did a $12b merger have to do with it?

For nearly 10 years, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ruled the late-night ratings roost, delighting audiences with biting satire, especially that aimed at US President Donald Trump.

But last week, US network CBS announced the program would end in May, finishing a three-decade run, which began with David Letterman in 1993.

CBS says The Late show with Stephen Colbert has been cancelled for financial reasons. Not everyone is convinced.Credit: CBS via Getty Images

Wild speculation swirled. Talk of Trump, Paramount and mergers mounted, as fans protested outside New York’s Ed Sullivan Theatre – where The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is filmed – with signs reading, “Colbert Stays! Trump Must Go!”

On Friday the Trump administration approved a merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, with Skydance taking control of the entertainment giant. So, why do people think Trump had something to do with The Late Show’s cancellation, and what could it potentially mean for Australia’s media landscape?

Why was the show cancelled?

According to CBS’ parent company Paramount, the program’s cancellation was “purely a financial decision”.

“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the network’s executives said in a statement. Anonymous reports later claimed the show cost the network between $US40 million and $US50 million ($61 million to $76 million) a year.

However, Colbert has long delivered critical takes on Trump and his administration. He has spoken about the president’s past connections with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And during an interview with one of his first guests in 2015, Jeb Bush – who was running his presidential primary campaign against Trump at the time – Colbert implied Trump was an “orange and crazy” person.

Last week Colbert delivered a scathing monologue about a US$16 million legal settlement between Paramount and Trump (more on that below), saying he was “offended” by the deal and calling it a “big fat bribe”. The Late Show was cancelled days later.

Wait, what’s up with Trump and Paramount?

In October, Trump sued Paramount over an episode of 60 Minutes, broadcast on CBS. He accused the show of deceptively editing an interview with the then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, thus allegedly interfering with the election.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone was trying to close the $US8 billion Skydance deal and required approval from the US Federal Communications Commission. Some believed Trump’s lawsuit would potentially get in the way, claiming that’s what prompted Paramount to reach the US$16 million settlement with Trump just weeks before the merger was approved on Friday.

Paramount is eyeing a $12 billion merger with Skydance.Credit: Bloomberg

Skydance founder and chief executive David Ellison is the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, who is close to Trump. There are concerns the acquisition could grant the president greater influence over the studio (which distributes major titles like South Park and Star Trek), and CBS.

Further, Skydance this week promised the Federal Communications Commission that, if the deal was successful, it would eliminate the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives at Paramount and introduce an ombudsman to root out “bias” in CBS news reporting.

Australia’s Channel 10 is a wholly owned subsidiary of Paramount Global’s UK and Australia division, so the network will soon be overseen by the Ellison-owned company.

As Colbert has long been a Trump critic, some have argued the cancellation of his show could foreshadow a more restricted media landscape. These suspicions are arguably bolstered by the Trump administration’s plan to cut federal support for the US Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including NPR and PBS, which are private non-profits with statutory protections that forbid political interference.

How have people responded?

Beyond the protests outside The Late Show studio, over 250,000 people have also signed a “Save Colbert” petition, which is led by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

This week, after the axing was announced, Colbert told Trump to “go f---” himself, and “the gloves are off” in his first appearance since the news.

Colbert’s friend, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart asked whether the decision to cut Colbert’s show was purely financial, or a “path of least resistance for the US$8 billion merger”.

“If you believe – as corporations or as networks – that you can make yourselves so innocuous that you can serve a gruel so flavourless that you will never again be on the boy king’s radar … Why would anyone watch you? And you are f---ing wrong.”

High-profile Democrat senator Bernie Sanders also shared his suspicions.

“CBS’s billionaire owners pay Trump $16 million to settle a bogus lawsuit while trying to sell the network to Skydance,” he wrote on X. “Stephen Colbert, an extraordinary talent and the most popular late-night host, slams the deal. Days later, he’s fired. Do I think this is a coincidence? NO.”

Colbert’s The Late Show predecessor David Letterman also voiced his support, sharing a 20-minute montage of moments he criticised CBS during his tenure.

“You can’t spell CBS without BS,” he said at one point.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s satirical animated series South Park has also poked fun at the issue. This week, its 27th season opened with the president in bed with Satan. It referenced the merger, The Late Show’s cancellation, Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount, and also suggested POTUS has small genitalia.

The White House said Trump was “seething over the childish attack”, per Deadline, and criticised the show for its lack of “authentic and original content”.

Has Trump said anything?

Shortly after Colbert’s axing, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social, to applaud the decision, and to offer what some consider a warning for other late-night hosts.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” he wrote. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! … Greg Gutfeld [host of a conservative news and political satire talk show on Fox News] is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show [Jimmy Fallon].”

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