Comics Unleashed, hosted by Byron Allen, will begin airing in the former 11:35pm time slot of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert starting Friday. CBS will receive payments through a 16-month lease agreement while Allen sells advertising for the program himself. The panel comedy show has been running for 20 years and began airing in September in the slot after Colbert. CBS executives said the move will create immediate profitability and that The Late Show was canceled for financial reasons, though politics is widely believed to have played a role. Allen’s other commitments include continuing Funny You Should Ask and acquiring a majority stake in BuzzFeed, potentially totaling up to $120 million.
"Viewers accustomed to watching The Late Show With Stephen Colbert at its typical 11.35pm time slot will be greeted with a different show starting on Friday: Comics Unleashed, hosted by Byron Allen. While it's standard for networks to pay a host like Allen, 65, his deal with CBS is a little different. He will be paying the network for Colbert's old time slot through a 16-month-long lease agreement while selling advertising for the show himself."
"CBS executives said the deal to move up Allen's show will provide immediate profitability for the network, which claimed that it canceled The Late Show for financial reasons though many believe politics came into play. (Allen's comedy gameshow Funny You Should Ask will continue to air after Comics Unleashed.) For Allen, it's just one of many deals he's made as media executive."
"Ahead of the launch of the show, Allen spoke with the Guardian about taking over Colbert's time slot and adding BuzzFeed to his stable of media properties, which also includes the Weather Channel and a group of local television networks. This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness. You've been on an extensive press tour since the announcement last week about your acquisition of BuzzFeed. What has been your primary message?"
"It's great to tell the story, share the vision. People they want to understand what's going on. I tell them what I told my wife when I met her 25 years ago: I'm building the world's biggest media company. I'm very passionate about what I do. I love what I do. I started my company from my dining room table in 1993, 33 years ago, and we built this company with a phone and a dining room tab"
Read at www.theguardian.com
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