New Paramount chief backs Colbert cancellation, says late-night landscape has 'huge problem'

The new Paramount chief backed the previous regime's decision to cancel Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show," saying that the current late-night landscape has a "huge problem."

Jeff Shell, who recently assumed the role as president of the entertainment giant following the Paramount-Skydance merger, was asked about CBS' decision to pull the plug on its late-night franchise in May 2026. While he had no involvement in the cancellation, Shell stood by the move. 

"Late-night has a huge problem right now," Shell said Wednesday during a Los Angeles press conference with top Paramount executives, according to Deadline.

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Shell acknowledged that Colbert's viewership roughly averaged his predecessor David Letterman in his final years as host of "The Late Show," but that the finances of late night have dramatically shifted. 

"The problem is that 80% of the viewership and growing is on YouTube," Shell said, adding that with YouTube paying "45 cents on the dollar," "you can't make it work economically anymore."

Industry experts have noted that Colbert's late-night rivals Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel have earned far more views on YouTube and social media despite having lower TV ratings than the liberal CBS host. 

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CBS shocked the political and media landscape last month when it announced it was canceling "The Late Show." The network insisted it was "purely a financial decision." 

Liberal critics accused CBS and parent company Paramount of having political motivations behind the decision, insisting they were bending the knee to President Donald Trump just days after Paramount settled Trump's "60 Minutes" lawsuit against the company as it sought FCC approval for the Skydance merger. Democratic lawmakers have even suggested that Paramount had violated anti-bribery laws in the process. 

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However, Puck News' Matt Belloni reported that the late-night show had been losing "more than $40 million a year" for CBS and that it had a budget of "more than $100 million per season," contrasting it with the network's daytime and primetime programming, which he noted were "still profitable."

"'Late Show,' with its topical humor and celebrity interviews pegged to specific projects, has struggled on Paramount+. And of the three network late-night shows, 'Late Show' has by far the smallest digital footprint on YouTube and other platforms," Belloni wrote. "So from a business perspective, the cancellation makes sense."