Stephen Colbert: a cowardly firing?

Categoría: International

Grado de dificultad: 3 (por el idioma).

Columnista: Redacción

Financial / political decisions that look bad

Stephen Colbert in the headlines

Last week, an awkward news was headlines of mainstream media: the firing of Stephen Colbert:

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to end in 2026 as CBS cancels show

Note: this article is only one of many, because the whole profession was stunned by the decision.

An accurate description of the situation (we think so) is given in the following video:

Video retrieved from the Meidas Touch Tube channel

However, let us just point out that the political aspect is also a perfect excuse:

“Look, we didn’t want it, we were forced to!”.

Of course! …

An already identified trend

Both financial and political aspects of the decision look bad, sending us back to a trend we already identified:

La lenta agonía de la TV por cable

Traditional television is dying, and the “Merging” of Paramount Global with SkyDance Media is only its latest twist.

Actually, it looks very much like the taking of HBO by Warner – Discovery, a still evolving story:

Warner Bros Discovery va séparer HBO Max du reste du groupe

And the similitude between these two failing stories seems growing. AKA Politics and finance don’t understand (at all) what creation is.

Stephen Colbert has much future

Far less bleak than it looks

The Stephen Colbert event is, however, far less bleak than it looks. For a start, Colbert was not fired on-the-spot like -say – any Tucker Carlson. He still has a whole season to run in 2026.

This means that he and his team have sufficient time to think of what they are going to do next …

Steve Colbert is a successful and respected figure, wealthy enough to be able to simply retire.

Many hope he will raise to this opportunity, as subtly hinted by John Oliver, a respected colleague of him:

Video retrieved from the Associated Press YouTube channel

In this concise statement, the important quote is at the end:

“I look forward to seeing what he is going to do next, because that man will not stop …”

Available by May 2026

John Oliver’s comment does not come out-of-the blue. It is no secret that streaming platforms are looking for live streaming contents:

Netflix to start streaming live TV for the first time

If most notorious, Netflix is not the only one in pursuing this goal. We can imagine how juicy the notice of CBS’s Late show cancellation must feel for them all.

This is an already fully designed and working, product, with a guaranteed success (even more so, now).

The anchor and a whole team, with known budget and scheme, will all be available by May 2026 …

… If anyone is interested.

To finish, let’s watch a sample of this program: