E! News gets the axe again

Despite the broadcast cancellation, the E! News brand will continue to maintain a presence on social media.

E! News gets the axe again
Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

It’s a terrible month to be a long-running entertainment news show. E! News is the latest legacy brand to get the axe after CBS announced the end of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last Thursday. Variety reports that the decision came from E! Network itself, “as it looks to leverage its brand of entertainment coverage and commentary across digital and social platforms.” (For the record, Deadline has a slightly different read. It reports that the decision was passed down by Versant, the fledgling company in charge of the NBCUniversal cable channels Comcast sloughed off during its breakup.)

While this decision is presumably as money motivated as the Late Show cancellation (at least as claimed by CBS), it’s somewhat less surprising. The trades point out that the ways people consume pop culture news have changed dramatically since the show was first launched in 1991. People now get most of that information from their phones and social media, which reduces the need for a nightly news program.

In that vein, E! fans don’t have to despair entirely. The E! News brand will continue on digital platforms, with a focus on social media. Deadline reports that the show actually saw some pretty major growth on Instagram, TikTok, and the like in 2024, with viewership across all digital and social content up 50% from the previous year. In addition to the TV broadcast, the brand currently airs several shows on social media, including E! News’ The Rundown on Snapchat, Hot Goss on Instagram, RE!CAP on YouTube. E! News will air its last broadcast half-hour on September 25. 

This actually isn’t the first time the long-running show has been canceled. It was previously axed in 2020, but sprang back to life in 2022 after two years. Who knows—maybe fans will once again be able to watch E! News break down all of Hollywood’s hottest gossip on TV in 2027.

 
Join the discussion...