WRT Colbert (82 points, 7 days ago, 70 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44600437

.. but the title edit doesn't help

He will make more money rejoining Stewart as his original character.

There are problems with late night network TV as a business -- it has lost most of its audience about twice in the last decade, it has struggled to hold its audience in between the really bad years, and only a very small fraction of the audience it retains is in the born 1985 or later demographic cohort that advertisers want to reach. The high-priced talent it has not let go is still a losing proposition. Whoever is planning on leading the new organization after the merger probably suggested that the pre-merger management should take the black eye of firing Colbert with them when they ride off into the sunset. Of course, Trump will figure that he got his way because he is so clever, but the network managers are probably tickled pink that Trump gave them an excuse for doing what they already saw as no-brainer cost cutting.

There are two reasons why I don’t believe Colbert’s cancellation had anything to do with the merger.

1.) His show was losing $40 million dollars a year. I fully expect many of the other late night comedy shows to follow, since it is a dying format.

2.) They’re letting him stay on the air for a whole additional year. If the goal was to silence him, why not cancel him immediately.