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Byron Allen gets the Colbert timeslot

But to put it in context, the Byron Allen shows are also all over the place in syndication.

The one and only thing that the Byron Allen shows have going for them from CBS' perspective is that Byron Allen's company is paying for the time that the shows will broadcast in. And, of course, that's enough.

My suspicion is that almost anything else that CBS could run in that time period would at least match the really low ratings that Byron Allen's shows will get...but as long as Allen keeps paying for the time slots, CBS doesn't really care.
 
But to put it in context, the Byron Allen shows are also all over the place in syndication.

The one and only thing that the Byron Allen shows have going for them from CBS' perspective is that Byron Allen's company is paying for the time that the shows will broadcast in. And, of course, that's enough.

My suspicion is that almost anything else that CBS could run in that time period would at least match the really low ratings that Byron Allen's shows will get...but as long as Allen keeps paying for the time slots, CBS doesn't really care.
CBS doesn’t care that the news division is tanking so they won’t care if the late night division tanks either.

The affiliates might start barking if their local programming starts to tank based on the national ratings. They are paying huge network fees and getting nothing in return.
 
Not even exclusivity for network programs in their market.

If the rates for local (or adjacent) spots in Byron Allen’s shows start dropping, they’ll have reason to bark.
CBS Evening News is tanking, the local lead in’s have to be taking a hit. Now add in the late news lead in tanking and it will hurt both marquee local newscasts.
 
Huh?

Let's see, where do I begin, Flip Wilson, Bill Cosby, Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor (who could work clean when he needed to)...

I think if you dig in the history books you'll find there was rural objections to a lot of the network shows starring blacks.

Look up the controversy around Dianne Carroll's show Julia. The criticism Nichelle Nichols received in Star Trek.

Given a choice between Gutfield and Byron Allen, who will they pick?
 
I think if you dig in the history books you'll find there was rural objections to a lot of the network shows starring blacks.

Look up the controversy around Dianne Carroll's show Julia. The criticism Nichelle Nichols received in Star Trek.

The Nat King Cole Show, on the same network (NBC) that Star Trek and Julia would later air, had the same issues with Southern audiences a decade earlier.
 
I think if you dig in the history books you'll find there was rural objections to a lot of the network shows starring blacks.

Look up the controversy around Dianne Carroll's show Julia. The criticism Nichelle Nichols received in Star Trek.

Given a choice between Gutfield and Byron Allen, who will they pick?

I really think that ship has sailed. This is a fundamentally different country in that respect, than it was in the days of Miss Carroll and Miss Nichols.
 
I'm not surprised Byron Allen is buying the 2 hours of late night on CBS Comics is on 90 minutes as CW6 airs it 1:30AM, Comics will get an hour break Funny You Should Ask isn't cleared as WXSP ended it in the fall of 2025.
 
I think if you dig in the history books you'll find there was rural objections to a lot of the network shows starring blacks.

Look up the controversy around Dianne Carroll's show Julia. The criticism Nichelle Nichols received in Star Trek.

Given a choice between Gutfield and Byron Allen, who will they pick?
Even red states aren't monoliths, there's plenty of blue, it's in the cities and gerrymandered out of power.
 

This isn't really true. We'll know more after the network meeting with affiliates next month, but I'm not aware that it changes the relationship at all.

As the article says, at one time, CBS turned over late night to Universal TV, producers of a scripted dramas. Universal owned those shows. I don't know if they paid CBS for the time or not, but CBS turned over the programming to an outside supplier. Just as they did with Worldwide Pants.

CBS has a long history of doing this. Back in the network radio days, the advertisers owned the prime time entertainment programming, not the network. In the 70s, CBS turned over the programming of its O&O radio stations to Mike Joseph's Hot Hits format. In the 2000s, CBS Radio did a national deal with SparkNet for the Jack format. So this isn't as big a deal as this article implies.
 
CBS says Byron Allen isn't the long term solution for late night. It's a one year deal. They're still interested in other ideas:

 
CBS says Byron Allen isn't the long term solution for late night. It's a one year deal. They're still interested in other ideas:

They might lose too much ground by then.
 


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