[user104658]

Originally Posted by Alf

That's fair enough, but I personally don't believe that.

Rosanne is the title character and this show is over without her, not to mention her fans who wouldn't want to watch it without her. So if it's true, then their financial adviser has dropped a bollock.

One show - even a show with a huge viewership - isn't enough to risk things like people boycotting the channel en masse, or more likely (and even worse for them), people boycotting the companies that advertise on the channel which will lead to them pulling their ads... And ads are all that matter to commercial channels. Without ad revenue, they're done.

Which is what I'd say about the above as well Maru; I don't think companies are necessarily "left leaning", it's all showmanship, all they really care about at the end of the day is sales and profit and thus they are terrified of boycotts. I mean just look at Starbucks recently... Scrabbling to "not seem like the bad guy" to appease their customers, but not because they actually care about anything that has happened, because they're feeling it in their pocket.

But again, that's the double edged sword... That is the other side of freedom / free speech / the free market. Yes you have the political freedom to say whatever you want, but because everyone ELSE has the same freedom, you can quickly find yourself (or your brand) "cancelled" for it. Faster than ever in the social media generation. And as you say... Broadcast media is an industry that's already under threat, with the best content slowly but surely transitioning to subscription based, streamed media.