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CBS Hasn’t Closed Door to Original Late-Night Programming

Cheaper is also in the studio and staffing. If you want to stage a Colbert type show, there are baked in costs well before getting to the host. But replicating the traditional late night variety show isn’t the only option. Not saying for one moment they’d pursue something else, but when one removes the artificial constraints and imagines possibilities, there are different ways to go.
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
Cheaper is also in the studio and staffing. If you want to stage a Colbert type show, there are baked in costs well before getting to the host.
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One of the big expenses in late night is the music. The studio band is expensive. The music they play is expensive, because TV pays performance royalties and performing royalties. Two different things, but they add up. Then you add the musical guest. TV pays for the artist, the band, travel, lodging, per diem, transportation to and from the studio, plus all the royalties. That's a ton of money. That's why some shows have no musical guests, and why Kimmel has now cut back. Plus the show usually can't monetize the music because they don't own it. There are some exceptions to that, but when there are, the artist shares in the monetization.

One thing about the Byron show is there's no music. There's some incidental production music, but it's recorded and bought out. They paid a fee for the rights to it, and there may be a publishing royalty paid per play to the composer. But that's it. If Byron composed the music, he keeps that money too.
 
TheBigA said:
One of the big expenses in late night is the music. The studio band is expensive. The music they play is expensive, because TV pays performance royalties and performing royalties. Two different things, but they add up. Then you add the musical guest. TV pays for the artist, the band, travel, lodging, per diem, transportation to and from the studio, plus all the royalties. That's a ton of money. That's why some shows have no musical guests, and why Kimmel has now cut back. Plus the show usually can't monetize the music because they don't own it. There are some exceptions to that, but when there are, the artist shares in the monetization.

One thing about the Byron show is there's no music. There's some incidental production music, but it's recorded and bought out. They paid a fee for the rights to it, and there may be a publishing royalty paid per play to the composer. But that's it. If Byron composed the music, he keeps that money too.
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An example of how much music costs late night shows:

 
radiofan2023 said:
An example of how much music costs late night shows:
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Everybody should watch this. The funny part is he's talking about The Eagles. Their manager is Irving Azoff, who started Global Music Rights, in order to get more money for publishing royalties. Irving is also the man who brought together Live Nation & Ticketmaster, to make going to concerts more expensive. He is now the person working on the iHeart/Sirius merger being discussed in another thread. So everything that Irving touches is good for his clients, but usually more expensive for everyone else.
 
TheBigA said:
Everybody should watch this. The funny part is he's talking about The Eagles. Their manager is Irving Azoff, who started Global Music Rights, in order to get more money for publishing royalties. Irving is also the man who brought together Live Nation & Ticketmaster, to make going to concerts more expensive. He is now the person working on the iHeart/Sirius merger being discussed in another thread. So everything that Irving touches is good for his clients, but usually more expensive for everyone else.
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Sounds like he’s working his Azoff!
 
phildavis said:
Another idea in all seriousness's, consider going the other way. Instead of something brainy like a Nightline show, do Maury Povich re-runs to attract the college crowd, the drunk, the stoned, those that find the previous show too "coastal and elite". Do trash. You'll get numbers and its reruns so cheap.
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linear TV isn't on the radar of the college crowd, they are more likely to pay for the same shows on streaming that they can get for free OTA
 
TheBigA said:
One of the big expenses in late night is the music. The studio band is expensive. The music they play is expensive, because TV pays performance royalties and performing royalties. Two different things, but they add up. Then you add the musical guest. TV pays for the artist, the band, travel, lodging, per diem, transportation to and from the studio, plus all the royalties. That's a ton of money. That's why some shows have no musical guests, and why Kimmel has now cut back. Plus the show usually can't monetize the music because they don't own it. There are some exceptions to that, but when there are, the artist shares in the monetization.
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did they save during the pandemic when hosts did the shows from home with zoom interviews? could they just do shows like that again? might not make any difference on youtube
 
If this were truly financial and nothing more, there were plenty of ways to keep Colbert that have been discussed here over the months
  • Reduce/eliminate the house band
  • Reduce the number of music acts
  • Add additional dark weeks
  • Reduce the schedule to 3 tape days per week
Late Night with Seth Meyers has done all of these things in the past few years.

If CBS had wanted to keep the #1 late night host, there were plenty of options.
 
vw86 said:
If CBS had wanted to keep the #1 late night host, there were plenty of options.
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Unfortunately all of the expensive elements were written into the contract.

The only way for CBS to get out was to terminate the contract. Which they did.

The contract for the Seth Myers show is with Lorne Michaels, and he apparently has a different deal.

The real question is would Colbert sign a different contract for a show with a different name, with no band, and in a small studio with no audience.
 


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