dailyloe.com – CBS has finalized a deal with media mogul Byron Allen to lease its flagship late-night time slot. This follows Stephen Colbert’s planned exit from ‘The Late Show’ next month. The network will sell the 11:35 p.m. ET slot to Allen’s company.
The agreement covers the entire 2026-2027 television season. Allen will program the hour with consecutive episodes of his syndicated series ‘Comics Unleashed’. This marks a significant shift from a network-produced talk show to a leased programming block.
As part of the same deal, Allen will continue leasing the following 12:37 a.m. hour. That slot will feature another strip from his entertainment portfolio. The show is the comedy game show ‘Funny You Should Ask’.
The move represents a major expansion for Allen Media Group in broadcast television. It secures a coveted post-local news time period on a major network. The strategy turns a high-profile vacancy into a revenue-generating time buy arrangement.
This deal underscores changing economics in the late-night television landscape. Networks are exploring alternative models to expensive in-house production. Byron Allen’s company now controls a substantial block of CBS’s late-night programming real estate.[]
Source: Variety
