CBS will end "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and retire "The Late Show" franchise in May 2026, the company announced Thursday, calling it "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.

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,

With the hosts Merv Griffin, Pat Sajak, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert, CBS has taken many runs at late-night TV. Some were more successful than others.

The Writers Guild of America wants Paramount investigated for bribery after news of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” being canceled. Variety reports said it has “significant concerns” that the move may have been a way to bribe president Donald Trump into sanctioning Paramount’s pending acquisition by Skydance.

Ten years on, CBS has snatched the crown off its head. The network appears to have grown so dismayed with the state of late-night television that it has unceremoniously canceled one of the genre’s most successful stalwarts: In a statement last night,

“Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that The Late Show’s cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval,” it noted (see full statement below).

Liberal celebrities and politicians mourned the cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" as CBS claims the decision is purely financial and unrelated to the show's content.