As CBS and Colbert Feud, There’s a Surprising Winner

The public brouhaha enveloping CBS, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the Federal Communications Commission has put the spotlight on the network and the regulator over questions of censorship and political pressure.

But amid the back and forth between the late night host, the FCC and the network, CBS itself is quietly emerging as a winner in the high-stakes U.S. Senate race that has captured public attention, capturing hundreds of thousands of dollars in February alone from Democratic hopefuls James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett, as well as Republicans John Cornyn, Ken Paxton and Wesley Hunt.

CBS owns Ktvt, the station that serves the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex, and a review of its political files underscores how the battle for the Senate is running through broadcast TV, and the distinct strategies that each campaign is pursuing.

In February alone, Talarico committed $169,350 in ad spending on the Dallas CBS station, with early primetime access,…