Pure kayfabe. ABC needed any excuse to get rid of a show that no longer made sense in the modern era of streaming. NBC and CBS must be furious that they didn’t think of this first.
Edit: Ha I forgot that CBS actually did think of it first with Colbert’s show getting axed too.
You can’t resell old episodes. They only talk about news and celebrities relevant to each specific week. They’re instantly dated - no one is rewatching old episodes beyond a week. Even if there are some stragglers still watching them with their ancient cable TV subscriptions, they’ll be gone within five years and who wants to invest in a dying show with an expiration date?
Edit: Ha I forgot that CBS actually did think of it first with Colbert’s show getting axed too.