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Too late for New York to save ‘The Late Show’
By
Jon Campbell
Published Jul 24, 2025
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By
Jon Campbell
Published Jul 24, 2025
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This column originally appeared in The Politics Brief, our weekly newsletter on the people, power and policies that shape New Yorkers' lives.
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New York taxpayers ponied up to keep “The Late Show” in the Empire State when Stephen Colbert took over.
But now that CBS is pulling the plug on the venerable late-night television franchise, does the state have any recourse?
The short answer: Not really.
Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration put together a package of tax breaks and grants worth up to $15 million to retain “The Late Show” back in 2014, when David Letterman announced his retirement and the show was flirting with moving out of state.
That money’s long been spent with no mechanism to claw it back. Some state lawmakers aren’t happy about it.
“Why should we give them tax money if they’re going to close up shop here?” said state Assemblymember Tony Simone, a Midtown Democrat.
Simone’s district includes the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway, which “The Late Show” has called home for more than three decades.
The show received a $5 million grant and $10.3 million in tax breaks over the five years from 2016 through 2020, according to state records.
The grant was for extensive renovations to the famed theater as Colbert took over. The tax breaks, meanwhile, were through the state’s Excelsior Jobs Program, which covers a portion of employees’ salaries when a company creates jobs and invests in its New York operations.
CBS spent the grant as the state intended, overhauling the theater ahead of Colbert’s arrival. And the state paid out the Excelsior tax break incrementally as ”The Late Show” maintained upwards of 200 jobs, the state records show.
The money came at a time when New York decided to spend big on late-night TV franchises.
The year before “The Late Show” got the state incentives, Cuomo — who is now running for New York City mayor — and lawmakers changed state law to allow NBC’s “The Tonight Show” to qualify for tens of millions of dollars in film tax breaks. In exchange, NBC agreed to relocate the show to New York from Los Angeles when Jimmy Fallon took over. It still broadcasts from 30 Rockefeller Center today.
“The Late Show,” meanwhile, didn’t qualify for the ongoing film tax breaks since it didn’t relocate from another state. Simone said he believes CBS’ parent company, Paramount, is cancelling the show because Colbert has been critical of President Donald Trump.
The late-night host also used his show to lambast Paramount’s reported $16 million settlement with Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview last year with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Simone said all of that should be enough to warrant a review of all tax credits going to Paramount, which include millions of dollars for its other shows that film in New York. The Writers Guild of America union has called on state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate “potential wrongdoing at Paramount.”
”We know why it happened,” Simone said of the cancellation. “It's a chilling effect, and I think we should take our tax dollars back if they're going to cancel the show.”
Paramount has said that canceling “The Late Show” was “purely a financial decision.”
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Jon Campbell
Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.
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