CBS still gets paid. “Comics Unleashed” is basically an infomercial. I do wonder what they are bringing in vs the ad revenue from Colbert. I also wonder if affiliates can opt out of showing Unleashed or if they can run their own paid programming during the time slot.
We don’t know that their claim they were losing money with Colbert is actually true.
The fact that CBS is getting paid for running an infomercial DOES NOT in ANY way mean that CBS is getting more money from this infomercial than they wrre getting from The Late Show.
It’s likely to lose a lot of viewership and ad revenue for the lead-ins and for the nightly news as well.
The deal with Byron Allen is for the next year, so in theory CBS only gets paid for a year, and then things could become complicated.
The affiliate question is a good one. I’m not aware of the contacts but if we look at the Kimmel situation from a few months back it was affiliates who complained the loudest and chose not to air Kimmel.
If we go back further and look at the Conan Tonight Show controversy it was again local affiliates complaining about lower viewership of their news programs (that aired just before the talk show).
I doubt any affiliates will say anything during the summer, but come fall it’s a possibility.
