US Late Night Shows

Television Subscription and International
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In 2025, the Comedy Central show scored its highest-rated year since 2020 among people aged between 18 and 49 and landed its biggest share since 2015.

The show, which is hosted by Jon Stewart, Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Michael Kosta, Jordan Klepper and Desi Lydic, saw 16% growth in ratings in the 18-49 demo between 2024 and 2025. Per Nielsen, it went from an average of 366,000 to 423,000.

In terms of share, this grew by 25% in the same period from a 2.2 to a 2.76.

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Welcome back the Fairness Doctrine.

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It goes both ways. Say if Jimmy Fallon invites JD Vance to his show for a chat, then he will have to give equal time to a Democrat congressman.

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Didn’t Reagan abolish equal time in the 80’s?

If equal time is back, what would that mean for conservative and progressive radio & TV?

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Equal time would only apply to FTA transmissions.

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The final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will air in the US on May 21, per LateNighter.

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“The Late Show was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. The Late Show decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options,” the company noted in a statement.

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And we’ll see where the ratings floor will be.

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Sounds terrible but probably better than CBS handing the two hours over to affiliates for local or syndicated programming.

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Byron Allen purchases the full airtime for the shows he produces—including all advertising slots—meaning both Comics Unleashed and Funny You Should Ask are structured to not only avoid costing CBS money but potentially generate revenue. This model effectively returns the ad inventory to the network, allowing CBS to sell and program those ad breaks as it sees fit while retaining all associated income.

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Huh

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Allen explains himself here.

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I understand how it works - but I don’t get your conclusion that it returns the inventory to the network.

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