"These shows are expensive to run, with big operating budgets and huge salaries paid to the hosts. Viewership is down, making it more difficult to make money off these shows (though one suspects Kimmel will have at least a bit of a post-suspension rebound). There are a lot of nonpolitical reasons for all this, but politics has played a role too."
"Most importantly, they have decided to appeal to at best half of an already declining audience. Greg Gutfeld can work because he is on cable, where the viewership has already split politically, and he has the conservative comedy show niche more or less to himself. Bill Maher, who would have 30 years ago been more outspokenly liberal than anyone on late-night television, now tries to appeal to a more diverse audience than Kimmel or Colbert."
"All this has been obscured by debates over what role the government has played in these hosts' travails. Specifically, Kimmel's suspension came in the wake of threatening remarks along the lines of "Nice broadcasting license-it would be a shame if something happened to it" from Attorney General Pam Bondi and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Colbert's ouster also came as the FCC was considering the Paramount-Skydance merger."
Jimmy Kimmel returned to his show after a suspension, but many affiliates refused to carry it. Viewership for late-night broadcast shows is declining, and networks are cutting back, as exemplified by CBS winding down Stephen Colbert's show. High operating costs and large host salaries make these programs harder to profit from. Political content has contributed, with broadcast late-night hosts presenting uniformly liberal monologues that narrow audience appeal. Cable hosts like Greg Gutfeld benefit from an ideologically split audience, while Bill Maher seeks a broader audience. Government interactions, including remarks from Pam Bondi and FCC scrutiny, have complicated matters.
Read at The American Conservative
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