{"id":144946,"date":"2025-08-14T11:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144946\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T11:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:29:10","slug":"jeff-shell-on-future-of-cbs-10-pm-hour-late-show-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/144946\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Shell On Future Of CBS’ 10 PM Hour & ‘Late Show’ Cancellation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSkydance\u2019s acquisition<\/a> of Paramount<\/a> Global put former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell<\/a> back in charge of a broadcast network. As President of the newly merged Paramount, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the conglomerate\u2019s media businesses, including CBS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust before he exited NBCU in April 2023, Shell had been actively exploring getting NBC out of the 10 p.m. hour, the part of primetime most impacted by people\u2019s changing viewing habits that has them migrating to streaming in large numbers during that time span.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince Shell was a proponent of NBC dropping the 10 p.m. hour, there had been speculation that he may want to do the same with CBS once he formally becomes Paramount President.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a Los Angeles press event Wednesday with top Paramount executives<\/a>, Deadline asked Shell about his plans for CBS\u2019 10 p.m. hour just as we did at the last NBCU press event before his departure.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSame question, different answer,\u201d Shell said, noting that CBS\u2019 10 p.m. is \u201chealthier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdmitting the challenges broadcast networks face at 10 p.m., he noted that programs scheduled in the hour are judged on how they perform both on the linear network and on streaming, adding that CBS\u2019 10 p.m. dramas are doing well in both departments, so cutting the hour is not on the table right now.<\/p>\n

\n\tBlue Bloods is a prime example of a CBS drama that thrived in that time slot for its 14-season run, something CBS is looking to replicate with the upcoming offshoot Boston Blue<\/a>, scheduled in the same Friday 10 p.m. time period. Comedic crime drama Elsbeth, which currently occupies the Thursday 10 p.m. hour, has been among CBS\u2019 best multi-platform performers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe 10 p.m. dramas are good business for CBS from a performance and P&L standpoint, as well as the value they bring to Paramount+,\u201d George Cheeks, who continues to oversee CBS as Chair of TV Media for Paramount, told Deadline in May<\/a>. \u201cThese dramas also provide a powerful lead-in for late local news for our affiliates and O&O\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Deadline reported at the time<\/a>, Shell reportedly did bring up the idea about dropping the 10 p.m. hour with CBS executives earlier this year, but the topic was put to rest after he was presented with detailed arguments \u2014 and data \u2014 why programming the time slot makes financial sense for the network.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEventually, that could happen, for sure,\u201d Shell told Deadline today about trimming CBS\u2019 primetime to two hours, echoing comments he had made back at NBCU about \u201creallocating resources\u201d toward growth areas of the company. But he reiterated that CBS will continue to program the 10 p.m. hour for the time being.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe problem with late-night\t<\/p>\n

\n\tJust a couple of weeks before Skydance\u2019s acquisition of Paramount Global was completed, CBS announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/a> will end<\/a> in May 2026, with The Late Show franchise canceled altogether.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Shell said he was not involved in the decision as it happened ahead of the transaction, he supported it and called it the right move as late-night in its current form is not working<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLate-night has a huge problem right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tShell noted that Colbert\u2019s viewership is on par with that for his Late Show predecessor, David Letterman, meaning that it remains popular and culturally relevant.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe problem is that 80% of the viewership and growing is on YouTube,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n\tWith YouTube paying \u201c45 cents on the dollar,\u201d \u201cyou can\u2019t make it work economically anymore,\u201d Shell added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Skydance\u2019s acquisition of Paramount Global put former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell back in charge of a broadcast network.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[15328,171,32131,15329,47174,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-144946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-cbs","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jeff-shell","11":"tag-paramount","12":"tag-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115026891087191727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}