Jimmy Kimmel is in talks to continue his late night program on ABC after his contract ends in May, but reportedly with the condition that he will have to cut production costs.
Failure to do so may result in the same fate as “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which CBS cancelled last fall, due to the program losing around $40 million annually, with a production cost believed to be about $100 million.
The Late Show employed 200 people for an hour show a night. No wonder it lost $40 million a year. Every @FoxNews live primetime show crushes Colbert in ratings and I bet none of those shows have more than 30 employees. pic.twitter.com/B02JDtgoUE
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 23, 2026
Similarly, Puck News reported Friday that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” costs about $100 million per year to produce.
“But while Kimmel’s show is said to generate more overall revenue than the older-skewing and less digitally savvy Colbert, the numbers still aren’t great. The late night shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC together lured just $221 million in ad revenue in 2024, about half the $439 million generated in 2018,” Puck said.
Kimmel pulled an average of 2.51 million viewers per night last season, compared to Colbert, who had 2.88 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Deadline reported on Friday that Kimmel and Disney, ABC’s parent company, are in talks to renew his contract.
“The wrinkle? ABC is reportedly keen to cut the budget of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a move that is becoming increasingly commonplace in late-night television.”
“Disney is keen to make cuts across the board. In August, Deadline broke the news that Disney was offering longtime executives early retirement. This came after it started rounds of layoffs, first announced in April, with the elimination of 1,000 jobs with more cuts coming in July, particularly on the Pixar and Nat Geo fronts,” the outlet said.
Puck suggested that ways Kimmel could cut costs include eliminating “weeks of production or go to full reruns for the summer, eliminating two months of guest-hosted shows.”
“He could cut writers, producers, or other staff. Or nix the more costly stunts, like taping a week of shows in Brooklyn, which ABC okayed again for this fall. Kimmel could also shave more off his own fee, which has been reported at $15 million a year.”
Colbert also reportedly made $15 million per year.
Puck added, “Or, if they can’t make a deal, ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ could end after 24 years. Kalshi, the prediction market, has it as a 9 percent chance Kimmel will be ‘fired’ before the end of the year.”
Puck speculated that Kimmel does not want to leave before the end of Trump’s presidency in 2028.
“And now that Colbert is off TV, sources say that Kimmel feels a bit of a responsibility to carry the torch as late night’s thorn in the president’s side,” the news outlet said.
In January, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr put ABC on notice that programs like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The View” are subject to “equal time” rules if they have political candidates on their programs, due to laws governing broadcast channels like ABC, CBS, and NBC.
“For years, legacy TV networks assumed that their late-night & daytime talk shows qualify as ‘bona fide news’ programs — even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes,” Carr posted in January on social media.
“Today, the FCC reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities.”
The networks’ news programs are not subject to equal time laws.
For years, legacy TV networks assumed that their late night & daytime talk shows qualify as “bona fide news” programs – even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes.
Today, the FCC reminded them of their obligation to provide all candidates with equal opportunities pic.twitter.com/sWiQmqQHCq
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) January 21, 2026
Kimmel complained during his Wednesday opening monologue that he would not be able to air his interview with Texas Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico on ABC this week because of Trump.
Instead, he would be posting it to YouTube.
The late-night host apparently does not want to comply with the broadcast network equal time requirement by offering Republican Ken Paxton an opportunity to come on the show.
Last month, Disney filed a lawsuit against the FCC, arguing that the Trump administration is infringing on ABC’s freedom of speech. Carr has countered that he is merely enforcing the law regarding broadcast stations.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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