Broadcast television's highest rated late-night talk show, the late show with Stephen Colbert, is being canceled.

Last night, Colbert announced the change, what took him and many in the industry, by surprise.

Paramount, CBS's parent company called it purely a financial decision.

But as our Stephanie Sye reports, the timing is raising questions.

If a bombshell can be casually dropped, he did it.

Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the late show in May.

And a chorus of booze when Stephen Colbert announced the cancellation of the long-running late show at the taping for last night's program.

It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of the late show on CBS.

I'm not being replaced.

This is all just going away.

Colbert, who took on politics and President Trump in sharp-tongued monologues,

will end his 10-year run next May. This, despite the show being nominated for its 33rd Emmy

just this week. In a statement, CBS and parent company Paramount called the change purely a financial

decision, adding, it is not related

in any way to the show's performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount. Despite being

the highest rated legacy late night show, Colbert's program only averages 2.4 million viewers a night.

Declining ad revenue and a shift to streaming have upended broadcast network's traditional business model.

But for many, the timing suggests there may be other reasons for the late show's demise.

Paramount is in the midst of a multi-billion dollar merger with movie studio Skydance, a deal that will

require the Trump administration sign off. This settlement is for a nuisance lawsuit Trump filed.

And on Monday, Colbert's monologue made no bones about his take on the company's $16 million

settlement with the president over a 60 minutes interview.

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