It’s 2026 and YouTube routinely tops Nielsen charts of highest performing distributors on television. Video podcasters are storming streaming platforms. Successful TV creators are beginning to dabble in microdramas. And yet, as the old world of network television continues to fall away, CBS is doubling down on a very linear phenomenon: syndicated television.
Just last month, the company’s broadcast syndication subsidiary, CBS Media Ventures, announced a slate of shows old and new that felt like a throwback. We’re talking game shows (The Perfect Line, Flip Side), courtroom shows (Hot Bench and the upcoming Adam’s Law, featuring the son of Judge Judy Sheindlin herself), a clip show (American Mayhem, from the producers of America’s Funniest Home Videos), an entertainment news show (Entertainment Tonight) and one of the last buzzy syndicated daytime talk shows left (The Drew Barrymore Show).
CBS isn’t the only company still hanging on to the syndication model. Warner Bros. Television, Disney/ABC, Sony Pictures Television and various independent production companies are among those still in the business of licensing internally produced projects to local station owners.
But its investment seemed especially notable coming in the wake of NBCUniversal’s decision to leave the first-run syndication business, spelling the end for Access Hollywood, Access Live, Karamo and The Steve Wilkos Show. NBC’s news arrived, moreover, after Kelly Clarkson announced she was ending her syndicated NBC daytime talk show and Debmar-Mercury canceled Sherri Shepherd’s own syndicated talk show.
To explain why the company remains confident in syndication business, COO and CFO, TV Media at Paramount Bryon Rubin sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss cost management on syndicated series, the value of the Entertainment Tonight vault and the timeless escapism of game shows.
Why does the syndicated programming business still appeal to CBS in this rapidly changing, cord-cutting television ecosystem?
It’s a good question. Listen, our goal and our strategy is really to produce high-quality shows that audiences love, that drive ratings and drive revenue, but also that really drive value for our advertisers and our station partners. And all of that starts with our teams. We’ve got great teams in front of the camera, behind the camera, our teams that sell the shows, that distribute the shows, that produce the shows. We feel we can do it and we have been doing it in a very cost-effective way. And it really starts with the quality of our shows and the quality of our hosts. Our competitors have quality hosts too, for sure. But we’re talking about Drew Barrymore, who’s a household name and a household name to viewers who grew up, most of them. Judge Judy, who’s been the face of syndication television for decades, is now passing the torch onto her son and we’re starting a show called Adam’s Law with him. Jaleel White, who’s also been a household name — people grew up with him on Family Matters as Steve Urkel, if you can remember. He’s an actor and a talented host. That’s a long answer to your question, but that’s why we’re super excited about our business, about our shows, and about our teams, about our hosts.
How do you manage costs on the production side of something like a traditional game show or a court show when everyone is looking to keep their budgets down and local TV stations are facing major challenges from streaming?
It’s something we literally think about every day. A couple of examples are Hot Bench and our new show Adam’s Law. They share soundstage, they share sets, they share crews. That’s an efficient way to produce two shows almost at a time and share resources. And they’re produced in Connecticut, which is a tax incentive-friendly jurisdiction. The Drew Barrymore Show, we produce that in our own facility in New York, our broadcast center. So we own it, we don’t pay rent to anybody; that’s a more efficient way to produce things. And then our two newest shows, The Perfect Line and Flip Side are both produced in Georgia, which is also a very tax-efficient state. So production efficiencies, tax incentive efficiencies for sure are two of the biggest ways that we try to keep costs down as much as possible.
Access Hollywood was canceled earlier this year and E! News was axed in 2025. Why do you remain bullish on the entertainment news program business with Entertainment Tonight?
Viewers still want that content, pretty simply. Our hosts, as I said before, are well-known, well-liked, well-respected by many. I think the other brands are strong brands too, but the brand ET has survived for 45 years, and it’s also alive way outside of linear television. [ET] attracted a billion video views across social and digital [in February]. We also use the vault from ET. We’ve got 45 years of coverage of all these pop culture, Hollywood events that we either use for our own shows [or] we can monetize them outside the company. We used them for the Friends reunion, for The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Entertainment Tonight produces a lot of specials for CBS. The Blue Bloods farewell, for instance, the thousandth episode of NCIS [special]. So there’s a lot of value outside of the daily show, not to mention that people want information every day about what’s happening in the world of Hollywood, of pop culture.
After the demise of The Kelly Clarkson Show, Sherri, Karamo and Access Daily, The Drew Barrymore Show is one of the few big daytime talk shows left. Why is Drew still standing and why do you have confidence in it?
Look, they [all those other hosts] are still all phenomenal talents. I think Drew transcends that. She’s beloved by her audiences. We’ve got a nice business with integrated marketing with her. The food aspect of her show is very ripe for advertisers to bring their products. I mean, we’ve had Bertolli olive oil with Valerie Bertinelli doing a cooking show featuring that product, Hellman’s Mayonnaise. Advertisers not only like being on the show from a spots perspective, but they want the product to be in the show, they want Drew to be talking about the product. The show is sought out, almost oversubscribed, for the guests that want to be on the show. It’s the who’s who of everything. We’ve had Oprah Winfrey, we’ve had Steven Spielberg, we’ve had Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, I’m sure I’m leaving out thousands. They seek it out, they want to be on her show, they’re comfortable with her. It’s just the way that she handles herself. She’s just her authentic self on air. And to have all those constituencies trust you at the same time is fairly unique. And I really think that’s why the show’s had a lot of success.
Are there any syndicated formats that seem to be ascendant or on the rise as opposed to others?
Game shows are. It’s almost fun being able to just escape the world a little bit on the game shows, everybody seems happy on [them]. I think the world needs a little bit more of that, and there’s a reason why those are doing well. Clip shows, sort of like America’s Funniest Home Videos, are also fun, almost evergreen, and that’s something that people can just escape and laugh with or at, whichever way you want to say it. And judge shows and court shows continue to thrive. Those shows, we have to keep our eye on it and evolve as the market evolves, but as long as advertisers, sponsors, viewers, station partners want them, we’ll continue to produce them.
For a format that is seemingly so old-school like syndication, to what extent is there any real business in leveraging digital channels to monetize these projects, through streaming and social media social media?
People think of syndication as a very staid, old-school type of medium, which listen, it’s been around a long time. So in that sense, it is “old-school,” but people find it, people seek it out, people want it. Why? Because of the hosts. I know I’ve said over and over, [it’s due to] the comfort and the trust factor they have in all these folks who have careers before this, like Jaleel and Drew Barrymore. And Drew has a variety of her own brands. People know her even outside the show and then they discover the show because of her brands or because of what she’s doing online. There’s FAST channel possibilities for these shows, there’s many digital impressions that we are probably really at the early stages of monetizing, but viewers are there. Now we need to catch up on the monetization.
Looking ahead to the next few years, how do you imagine the syndication business at CBS will evolve? Will you be looking to new kinds of deals that include streaming or AVOD/FAST outlets, just managing decline, some of all that?
I think it’s some of all of that. We are very much leaning forward into the streaming and the digital and the social world for sure. We’re developing new shows as we speak, whether it’s for next season or the following season in different ways. It may not be the traditional syndicated show as one is used to, or it might be. So we have to continue to evolve. We’ve been doing this business for a long time. It’s been a really nice business for us, but if we don’t continue to evolve… You’re in media, the landscape changes is every day, every week. So we have to be ahead of that curve and we are. That’s what we’re focused on every day from me to all of our teams, to all of our shows, to all of our folks in development. It’s important. And if we take our eye off the ball, then… well, we won’t take our eye off the ball.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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