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Byron Allen gets the Colbert timeslot

Mark Roberts said:
Low effort, low return.

In olden days, I think the affiliates wouldn't have been too happy about this. But in a changed environment, I don't know how they're going to react, if they react at all.
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So little money is made by the locals after the late news that this move, despite what are guaranteed to be lower ratings, probably won't be worth a protest.

That said, if enough of Colbert's audience defaults to Kimmel, that could be a nice, if small, uptick in revenue for the ABC affiliates (I just don't see much of an audience crossover between Stephen's and Fallon's).
 
michael hagerty said:
So little money is made by the locals after the late news that this move, despite what are guaranteed to be lower ratings, probably won't be worth a protest.

That said, if enough of Colbert's audience defaults to Kimmel, that could be a nice, if small, uptick in revenue for the ABC affiliates (I just don't see much of an audience crossover between Stephen's and Fallon's).
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In my highly uninformed opinion, I think the affiliates will drift away, opting to run other syndicated programming in that 11:35 slot, maybe even rerunning shows they already have the rights to (e.g., Jeopardy + Wheel of Fortune) a second time. At least then they get to sell most of their inventory themselves, rather than the dregs of the network hour. They may wait a month or three to see how Byron does in that slot, but by the start of the new season a significant percentage of the affiliates will be off doing their own thing. (If they're contractually forced to air CBS's feed, I suspect it will be at a later hour, maybe the same 12:35 he's already airing at.)
 
michael hagerty said:
So little money is made by the locals after the late news that this move, despite what are guaranteed to be lower ratings, probably won't be worth a protest.

That said, if enough of Colbert's audience defaults to Kimmel, that could be a nice, if small, uptick in revenue for the ABC affiliates (I just don't see much of an audience crossover between Stephen's and Fallon's).
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I don't know what it is, but, somehow, I have a harder time warming up to Kimmel than to Colbert. Perhaps it's remembering Kimmel's earlier work, which did not resonate with me at all. But some of Colbert's earlier work also left me cold. I never cared for "Strangers with Candy", for example, and still don't understand why he thinks so highly of Robert Smigel, whom I can't stand. But the majority of Colbert's more recent work really hits the mark. Maybe I just need to give Kimmel a chance.
 
Weiserguy said:
In my highly uninformed opinion, I think the affiliates will drift away, opting to run other syndicated programming in that 11:35 slot, maybe even rerunning shows they already have the rights to (e.g., Jeopardy + Wheel of Fortune) a second time. At least then they get to sell most of their inventory themselves, rather than the dregs of the network hour. They may wait a month or three to see how Byron does in that slot, but by the start of the new season a significant percentage of the affiliates will be off doing their own thing. (If they're contractually forced to air CBS's feed, I suspect it will be at a later hour, maybe the same 12:35 he's already airing at.)
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Here's the problem:

The language allowing pre-emptions or timeslot shifts is in the affiliation contracts---it's not a show-by-show thing. So the affiliates are as obligated to carry Byron at 11:35 as they are Colbert currently.

Contesting that would open up their affiliation agreement for renegotiation, which would also give the network the opportunity to shop itself to less picky, starving stations in the market.
 
Weiserguy said:
In my highly uninformed opinion, I think the affiliates will drift away, opting to run other syndicated programming in that 11:35 slot, maybe even rerunning shows they already have the rights to (e.g., Jeopardy + Wheel of Fortune) a second time. At least then they get to sell most of their inventory themselves, rather than the dregs of the network hour. They may wait a month or three to see how Byron does in that slot, but by the start of the new season a significant percentage of the affiliates will be off doing their own thing. (If they're contractually forced to air CBS's feed, I suspect it will be at a later hour, maybe the same 12:35 he's already airing at.)
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I suspect a lot of stations might extend their late news to an hour.
 
Mark Roberts said:
I don't know what it is, but, somehow, I have a harder time warming up to Kimmel than to Colbert. Perhaps it's remembering Kimmel's earlier work, which did not resonate with me at all. But some of Colbert's earlier work also left me cold. I never cared for "Strangers with Candy", for example, and still don't understand why he thinks so highly of Robert Smigel, whom I can't stand. But the majority of Colbert's more recent work really hits the mark. Maybe I just need to give Kimmel a chance.
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Kimmel's show is considerably more lowbrow than Colbert's. But it's also considerably more engaged, relevant and on-point than Fallon. By default, he wins with me. That said, the vibe is L.A. and let's not overthink it when a good gag will suffice.
 
Keep in mind when Letterman moved from NBC to CBS in 1993, CBS didn't have a live variety show at 11:30. This decision basically returns CBS to doing a much cheaper show at that time. The company will now be able to sell the Ed Sullivan Theater, something it's wanted to do for a while. They will be free from the Letterman fee they've been paying for the past ten years. This is a turn-key show that has already established an audience at 12:30.

Weiserguy said:
In my highly uninformed opinion, I think the affiliates will drift away, opting to run other syndicated programming in that 11:35 slot, maybe even rerunning shows they already have the rights to (e.g., Jeopardy + Wheel of Fortune) a second time.
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It depends on the contract they have with the network. Keep in mind that first-run syndication has become so expensive, NBC Universal is getting out of the business. It's why they're not replacing Kelly Clarkson. Game shows are already tied up with prime time airing, so they're not available for late night. The options aren't very good. It's likely why CBS took this option. Cheap & easy.
 
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michael hagerty said:
See my post above about affiliation agreements.
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Is CBS Sacramento still doing late news for an hour at 10 pm, the last remnant of the 1990s experiments in the San Francisco and Sacramento markets with a 7-10 pm prime-time schedule, or is it now in line with all the other West Coast stations running an 8-11 pm prime-time schedule?
 
Mark Roberts said:
Is CBS Sacramento still doing late news for an hour at 10 pm, the last remnant of the 1990s experiments in the San Francisco and Sacramento markets with a 7-10 pm prime-time schedule, or is it now in line with all the other West Coast stations running an 8-11 pm prime-time schedule?
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It's now 95 minutes from 10:00 to 11:35. KCRA (NBC) and KXTV (ABC) do 35 minutes at 11:00.
 
Interesting that neither CBS or Paramount has a financial interest in these shows or in Byron's company. One would think they'd want a piece. Perhaps that's coming next.
 
If David Letterman had gotten the Tonight Show when Carson stepped down, CBS might not have gotten into late night. Yeah, they could have signed Leno, but a big part of what drove CBS to lay out the money for Dave was the belief that he was the stronger of the two and that resentment of Leno getting the show would pay off. And it did, for the first couple of years.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
CBS went back to the late night mix of movies and reruns as they had done pre-Sajak.
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My take is that this is a short term solution. Byron Allen is 64 years old. About the same age as the network demographic. He'll do this for a couple years until something else comes up, or until PSKY sells the network.
 


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