CBS Settles with Trump for $16 Million
In recent developments, CBS has agreed to a $16 million settlement following legal actions tied to a 60 Minutes interview featuring Kamala Harris. Charlie Hurt, co-host of Fox & Friends, commented on the seriousness of the situation, noting Harris’s claims that CBS News and Paramount adversely influenced the 2024 election.
CBS has also responded to reports suggesting that its news division is losing approximately $50 million annually, asserting instead that the unit is currently profitable. A spokesperson for CBS clarified to Fox News Digital that the initial report was incorrect.
Puck News indicated that CBS was indeed facing losses, citing sources familiar with the financials. This news emerged just weeks after it was revealed that CBS’s Late Show with Stephen Colbert was losing $40 million annually, which was a key factor in its cancellation.
On social media, Puck’s Dylan Byers mentioned that CBS’s financial discrepancies might be due to “accounting nuances” that require further scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the parent company of CBS, Paramount, recently merged with SkyDance Media in an $8 billion deal. New owner David Ellison has focused his attention on CBS News during this transition.
As reports of potential layoffs circulate, CBS’s new president, Jeff Shell, has acknowledged that any upcoming cuts will be “painful” but insists they’ll be necessary to avert deeper problems later. For CBS News President Tom Shivrowski, there’s a lot to tackle, especially as the network’s main news programs consistently fall behind competitors ABC and NBC.
Notably, CBS Evening News has averaged just 3.8 million viewers recently, significantly trailing ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News, which garnered over 7 million and 5.7 million viewers, respectively.
The tension at CBS has been palpable, especially following Trump’s numerous lawsuits against the network regarding alleged election interference during the airing of 60 Minutes interviews with Harris before the election.
Shari Redstone, who was previously a Paramount shareholder, sought to resolve Trump’s lawsuit, indicating that clarity on these issues could facilitate financial maneuvers that had been hindered by the legal action. The FCC approved the merger shortly after CBS settled with Trump.
The announcement of the settlement reportedly caught many CBS staff off guard, intensifying existing tensions within the organization, particularly after the cancellation of Colbert’s show was framed as strictly a financial decision. Critics have labeled this move as a concession to Trump. However, Puck News noted that Late Show was costing CBS over $40 million each year, against a substantial budget of more than $100 million per season.
Furthermore, several key figures at CBS News, including longtime executive producer Bill Owens and CEO Wendy McMahon, departed earlier this year in anticipation of the merger. Tanya Simon, a veteran with 25 years at 60 Minutes, is set to take on the new role of executive producer for the program.
