Colbert

I doubt anyone has missed me, but I should let my subscribers know I have migrated away from Substack to my own blog.

(Using an open source tool called Ghost).   The migration was not easy :)

On to this short post.

I don’t think the Colbert Report was canceled, solely, because he criticizes Donald Trump. 

His show was also losing money.   This is part of the trend of advertising money moving away from broadcasters to online. 

CBS could cut costs by dismissing staff, but CBS gets a big tax break because it is recorded in NYC, contingent on maintaining staff levels.  So to cut staffing, the show would have to move out of NYC, or relinquish the tax break. 

So CBS could have probably found a way to cut costs, but it would take some work.

Meanwhile, the parent company of CBS, Paramount, and investors, have plenty of reasons to keep Trump happy. CBS has already settled a legal case with Trump that probably had almost no merit.  Paramount has an acquisition pending that needs US Government (aka Donald) approval.

Given the money and the desire to keep Trump happy, CBS cancelled.

The Colbert Report will still run until May of next year. Reportedly CBS wanted to delay the cancellation announcement, but Colbert refused, and his contract lasts until May.