ABC/ESPN wants their purchase of NFL Network to be approved and Disney wants its purchase of FUBO approved. Nextstar, owner of ABC affiliates wants its purchase of TEGNA approved. It is unclear want Sinclair Broadcasting wants. They would probably would like to have conservative approved broadcasts based on their past record.
The Federal Communications Commission has tried to ensure there is competition to ensure the are more than just a few media voices. However, social media like X, TikTok and others don't really have content or broadcast rules as such. It is whatever their owners want of it. Elon Musk want his platform to be a free for all unless it criticizes him and then he cancels people's account. Or at least, that has been practice in the past.
Conservatives used to call it cancel culture but now they have the power, they are saying people like Jimmy Kimmel have to go because of facts. And that ABC should lose their license because of facts. A variety of Republicans have indicated alarm though, especially changes to hate law which if enshrined in law could hit them as well. There has been talk of a woke right but some on the conservative side.
The purity tests of the left were mocked by the right but now the same thing threatens the right. Blind rage after September 11 led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not enough due diligence was done. Questions were crushed. Rages led the way. Steve Bannon says the goal is to win and have a conservative unitary state. One FOX to rule them all. One President...no elections required.
There have been some who knew Charlie Kirk well who say he'd not want the lack of debate. Hard to say now. But the attack is now on late night shows which have always had political aspects to their monologues going back to radio days such as Bob Hope. Those shows were more variety shows but the genesis of the talk show can be found in those radio shows.
There are certainly some seniors alive today who were born before TV and were quite familiar the radio variety shows and talk show. The monologue to introduce the show and interview format with skits and sketches is. Even as Bob Hope served the USO during the war, he could and did political jokes. Some of them resulted in protests as they satirized Democratic and Republican U.S. Presidents. Hope joked during live, radio and TV broadcasts. His audience expected political jokes. He didn't neuter his performances. Certainly military audiences didn't want him to hold back.
Somehow in nostalgia for a great forgotten period of 1950s, there is the misconception that satire and political humour were something that didn't happen. At times, protests over political humour boiled over. The Smothers Brothers show was cancelled over politics and the Vietnam War. Perhaps the only difference between then and now is that Nixon didn't try to end the network that broadcast the show although there are indications he thought about it.
The changes in broadcasting and streaming as broken the advertising model for the networks. Even during Hope's time, he paid writers out of his own pay. Up to 15 might be writing for him. In today's late night shows, the writers room could number a dozen people. The overall staff might number 200. In the heyday though, the late night talk show could be very profitable.
In early television, there were quite a few women who were on the air waves in the U.S. and there were still huge gaps in North America where no stations existed. Winnipeg only got its first TV station in 1954 with CBWT (CBC) and first private television station CJAY (CKY/CTV) in 1960. While there was a lot of local and Canadian broadcasting, U.S. programming was also available such as the Ed Sullivan Show which had been broadcast for years before Manitoba even had TV stations.
Tonight Starring Steve Allen started in 1954 and pretty much created the dynamic of what a late night talk show for TV would look like. Allen left in 1957 to focus on his other work and NBC tried a different format than Allen's without success. The brought back the Tonight show with Jack Paar keeping the same format from before and the rest is history. Paar had huge success. He also got censored and left the air/was suspended like Kimmel for a time. Just goes to show what goes around, comes around.
The cancellation of Steve Colbert's show in May of 2026 by CBS has been said to be about money. However, no attempt to trim the costs of the highest rated talk show was attempted. It all seems like it was a sop to Donald Trump to ensure approval of the sale of Paramount and CBS. The new owners seem intent to bring more conservative programming to the company. It is uncertain what that means.
To be sure, some late night talk shows have ended because of low ratings. The flurry of retirements between 2014 and 2015 with Leno, Letterman and Stewart from full time work has brought new people in. Some ultimately didn't last. It hasn't helped with Covid and the changes to the broadcast landscape.
Jimmy Kimmel's one week suspension didn't just affect his show but Disney itself in terms of every part of their business. Nothing is beyond Trumps's reach but this overreaching could harm the freedom of press and freedom of speech provisions of the Constitution. The Supreme Court might have had a hard time giving Trump the win on that but you never know with how compliant the court will be. You would think that they would note that whatever decision rendered that Trump can use can be used by any future Democratic president as well.
In terms of late night talk shows, they have since the 1940s been the water cooler of America. Canada has tried late night a few times with Mike Bullard and George Stroumboulopoulus more than ten years ago. Both ended for various reasons of network switching and job offers for the hosts. No cable or network channel has attempted since. There was just too much competition to compete against American shows.
Canadian media preferred to grab U.S. late night programming than develop their own. Unlike Britain, where they have carved out times at least once a week for shows like the Graham Norton Show. Formatted differently than the U.S. desk and couch, it has become a favourite of Hollywood for its fun atmosphere. The show has spread worldwide on BBC. Canada has no equivalent of BBC, Acorn or BritBox to show Canadian programming.
With the major changes to television and people cutting cable, the consumption of media such as late night programming isn't confined to time of day. Only sports attracts audiences at specific times. Late night is not even live. It is recorded in front of an audience in the day and then broadcast at night. Moreover, clips are shown on Reels and TikTok shortly after broadcast. It is uncertain how the monetary value of late night talk is even evaluated.
While TV networks might eventually become streaming channels, perhaps talk shows will be around. Prime, YouTube still run live programming or once a week programming so why not a late night talk show? It might not be in the same grid schedule as a network but "must see" TV can still work and make money if formatted right and on the right platform.
As far as censorship goes in the U.S., the fasted way to end TV and film dominance in Hollywood would be to censor stuff. The day Disney moves production studios out of the U.S. is the day they admit defeat. Imagine the day that Disney moves exec and creative team to Vancouver. If Washington D.C. looks to get people fired and crush studios, they will move.
Americans will be consume content still. They will just receive it from elsewhere. And perhaps American authorities might block it, it is likely citizens would seek it out. Propaganda can get pretty boring. It is better to take the occasional controversy such as late night TV than to shut the whole thing down. The return of Kimmel may only be a temporary reprieve. American studios have moved much out of Hollywood and now Georgia. They are filming in places like Scotland and Manitoba because of cost, quality of locations and crew, casting and freedoms that once were taken for granted in the U.S.
What is the future of late night? Perhaps, it is a late night talk show based in Toronto for the North American market. Might be harder to cancel that in Washington. Bypass the affiliates and go straight to streaming.
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