CBS Details Byron Allen Time Buy, Cuts Late-Night Loss

CBS disclosed that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert loses about $40 million per year, and that Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed operates under a 'time buy' in which Allen pays CBS about $15 million annually to lease the 11:30 PM hour and sell the ads himself, a structure CBS says turned the hour from a loss into a profit (a roughly $55 million swing). The revelation comes amid ongoing debate over Colbert's cancellation and the successor's early ratings; Comics Unleashed drew about 878,000 viewers across two half-hours, far below Colbert's finale's 6.74 million, underscoring the challenges in late-night television.