Late-night television had been fighting for its survival even before “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was canceled this week.

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.

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.”