Colbert confirmed the cancellation during a show taping on Thursday. CBS said the move was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night."

Fans, political figures and fellow late-night hosts seemed stunned Thursday night when comedian Stephen Colbert announced that CBS would be ending The Late Show in May 2026, with many questioning what pushed the network and its parent company, Paramount Global, to make the decision.

CBS brass say they pulled the plug on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” because of its punishing losses and claim politics had nothing to do with it, The Post has learned.

CBS could not figure out a path to profitability in an entertainment world increasingly dominated by streaming.

Even CNN’s Brian Stelter, no fan of Trump, said as much, writing: “The bottom has indeed been falling out of the late-night TV business model for several years now. Audience fragmentation and digital competition have led to a decline in ad revenue across the board. One insider described it as ‘cratering’ at CBS.”

Stephen Colbert shocked his audience and late night fans, announcing CBS had decided to cancel his long-running show. “The Late Show” is the most-watched late night talk show on television, but it is expensive to produce and has faced declining ratings.

Skydance CEO David Ellison and his lawyer met with Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr and an FCC lawyer on Tuesday, a new regulatory filing shows. Why it matters: The meeting came two days before CBS abruptly announced that it is canceling "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" after the next season in May 2026,

When CBS embarked on the project of replacing David Letterman as the host of The Late Show, in 2014, the network spared no expense. It hired Stephen Colbert, who had collected Emmys and acclaim while hosting his Comedy Central talk show,