The Cost of a Melody – Why CBS Paid for 'Linus and Lucy' in the Colbert Finale
CBS and Paramount Global agreed to pay an undisclosed retroactive licensing fee and copyright penalty for the unauthorized broadcast of the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Linus and Lucy” during the 2026 series finale of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Rather than absorbing the penalty as traditional copyright damages, the intellectual property holders and network executives structured a settlement…














