CBS News
"The Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien led hundreds of his fans down a street to the NBC Building in Los Angeles. O'Brien has been in a much-publicized dispute with the Peacock Network.
20 January 2010
19 January 2010
Conan Reaps $40M In NBC Exit
NY Post
Conan O'Brien is close to signing a nearly $40 million deal to walk away from his job hosting NBC's "The Tonight Show," in a new move that will also award severance pay to his employees, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The deal, which has been fiercely negotiated for the last week, will give O'Brien $32.5 million to go on garden leave until September. This would prevent him from hosting any other TV shows if he pockets the cash, but gives him an option to sign other deals.
The remaining $7.5 million will go in severance pay to about 200 of Conan's "Tonight Show" employees after they expressed outrage about the prospect of going penniless, reports said.
O'Brien decided to leave NBC after executives said they would push his show to a slot after midnight (EST) in favor of the Jay Leno Show.
The exit agreement, which could be completed as early as Tuesday, bars O'Brien from bad-mouthing his former NBC bosses.
News of the deal comes hours after Leno tried to explain his side of the dispute with NBC during the monologue of his soon-to-be cancelled 10 p.m. show.
He said his expected return to 11:35 p.m. could become official today -- and called frenemy Conan O'Brien a "great guy."
His remarks (text below) came on the heels of reports O'Brien was close to signing a $40 million exit deal with NBC after refusing to move his "Tonight Show" to 12:05 a.m.
Jay's remarks
' I thought maybe I should address this. At least give you my view of what has been going on here at NBC.
Oh, let’s start in 2004 — 2004, I’m sitting in my office, an NBC executive comes in and says to me, “Listen, Conan O’Brien has gotten offers from other networks. We don’t want him to go, so we’re going to give him ‘The Tonight Show.’ “ I said, “Well, I’ve been number one for 12 years.” They said, “We know that, but we don’t think you can sustain that.” I said, “OK. How about until I fall to number two, then you fire me?” “No, we made this decision.” I said, “That’s fine.”
Don’t blame Conan O’Brien. Nice guy, good family guy, great guy. He and I have talked and not a problem since then. That’s what managers and people do, they try to get something for their clients. I said, “I’ll retire just to avoid what happened the last time.” OK.
So time goes by, and we stay number one up until the day we leave. We hand — [applause] — no, no. OK, but I’m leaving before my contract is out. About six to eight months early. So before I could go anywhere else, it would be at least a year or 18 months before I could go and do a show somewhere else.
I said to NBC, “Would you release me from my contract?” They said, “We want to keep you here.” OK.
“What are your ideas?” They said, “How about prime time?” I said, “That will never work.” “No, no, we want to put you on at 10. We have done focus groups. People will love you at 10.” . . . Four months go by, we don’t make it. Meanwhile, Conan’s show during the summer — we’re not on — was not doing well. The great hope was that we would help him. Well, we didn’t help him any. OK.
They come and go, “This show isn’t working. We want to let you go.” “Can you let me out of my contract?” “No, you’re still a valuable asset to this company.” How valuable can I be? You fired me twice. How valuable can I be? OK.
So then, the affiliates are not happy. The affiliates are the ones that own the TV stations. They’re the ones that sort of make the decisions. “They’re not happy with your performance, and Conan is not doing well at 11:30.” I said, “What’s your idea?” They said, “Well, look, how about you do a half-hour show at 11:30?” Now, where I come from, when your boss gives you a job and you don’t do it well — I think we did a good job here, but we didn’t get the ratings, so you get humbled. I said, “OK, I’m not crazy about doing a half-hour, but OK. What do you want to do with Conan?” “We’ll put him on at midnight, or 12:05, keeps ‘The Tonight Show’ does all that, he gets the whole hour.” I said, “OK. You think Conan will go for that?” “Yes, yes. [Laughter.] Almost guarantee you.” I said OK. Shake hands, that’s it. I don’t have a manager, I don’t have an agent, that’s my handshake deal.
Next thing, I see Conan . . . saying he doesn’t want to do that. They come back to me and they say, “If he decides to walk and doesn’t want to do it, do you want the show back?” I go, “Yeah, I’ll take the show back. If that’s what he wants to do. This way, we keep our people working, fine.”
So that’s pretty much where we are. It looks like we might be back at 11:30, I’m not sure. I don’t know. [Applause.] I don’t know. But through all of this — through all of this, Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy. I have no animosity towards him.
This is all business. If you don’t get the ratings, they take you off the air . . . You can do almost anything. You get ratings, they keep you. I don’t get ratings he wants. That was NBC’s solution. It didn’t work, so we might have an answer for you tomorrow.
So, we’ll see. That’s basically where it is.'
The deal, which has been fiercely negotiated for the last week, will give O'Brien $32.5 million to go on garden leave until September. This would prevent him from hosting any other TV shows if he pockets the cash, but gives him an option to sign other deals.
The remaining $7.5 million will go in severance pay to about 200 of Conan's "Tonight Show" employees after they expressed outrage about the prospect of going penniless, reports said.
O'Brien decided to leave NBC after executives said they would push his show to a slot after midnight (EST) in favor of the Jay Leno Show.
The exit agreement, which could be completed as early as Tuesday, bars O'Brien from bad-mouthing his former NBC bosses.
News of the deal comes hours after Leno tried to explain his side of the dispute with NBC during the monologue of his soon-to-be cancelled 10 p.m. show.
He said his expected return to 11:35 p.m. could become official today -- and called frenemy Conan O'Brien a "great guy."
His remarks (text below) came on the heels of reports O'Brien was close to signing a $40 million exit deal with NBC after refusing to move his "Tonight Show" to 12:05 a.m.
Jay's remarks
' I thought maybe I should address this. At least give you my view of what has been going on here at NBC.
Oh, let’s start in 2004 — 2004, I’m sitting in my office, an NBC executive comes in and says to me, “Listen, Conan O’Brien has gotten offers from other networks. We don’t want him to go, so we’re going to give him ‘The Tonight Show.’ “ I said, “Well, I’ve been number one for 12 years.” They said, “We know that, but we don’t think you can sustain that.” I said, “OK. How about until I fall to number two, then you fire me?” “No, we made this decision.” I said, “That’s fine.”
Don’t blame Conan O’Brien. Nice guy, good family guy, great guy. He and I have talked and not a problem since then. That’s what managers and people do, they try to get something for their clients. I said, “I’ll retire just to avoid what happened the last time.” OK.
So time goes by, and we stay number one up until the day we leave. We hand — [applause] — no, no. OK, but I’m leaving before my contract is out. About six to eight months early. So before I could go anywhere else, it would be at least a year or 18 months before I could go and do a show somewhere else.
I said to NBC, “Would you release me from my contract?” They said, “We want to keep you here.” OK.
“What are your ideas?” They said, “How about prime time?” I said, “That will never work.” “No, no, we want to put you on at 10. We have done focus groups. People will love you at 10.” . . . Four months go by, we don’t make it. Meanwhile, Conan’s show during the summer — we’re not on — was not doing well. The great hope was that we would help him. Well, we didn’t help him any. OK.
They come and go, “This show isn’t working. We want to let you go.” “Can you let me out of my contract?” “No, you’re still a valuable asset to this company.” How valuable can I be? You fired me twice. How valuable can I be? OK.
So then, the affiliates are not happy. The affiliates are the ones that own the TV stations. They’re the ones that sort of make the decisions. “They’re not happy with your performance, and Conan is not doing well at 11:30.” I said, “What’s your idea?” They said, “Well, look, how about you do a half-hour show at 11:30?” Now, where I come from, when your boss gives you a job and you don’t do it well — I think we did a good job here, but we didn’t get the ratings, so you get humbled. I said, “OK, I’m not crazy about doing a half-hour, but OK. What do you want to do with Conan?” “We’ll put him on at midnight, or 12:05, keeps ‘The Tonight Show’ does all that, he gets the whole hour.” I said, “OK. You think Conan will go for that?” “Yes, yes. [Laughter.] Almost guarantee you.” I said OK. Shake hands, that’s it. I don’t have a manager, I don’t have an agent, that’s my handshake deal.
Next thing, I see Conan . . . saying he doesn’t want to do that. They come back to me and they say, “If he decides to walk and doesn’t want to do it, do you want the show back?” I go, “Yeah, I’ll take the show back. If that’s what he wants to do. This way, we keep our people working, fine.”
So that’s pretty much where we are. It looks like we might be back at 11:30, I’m not sure. I don’t know. [Applause.] I don’t know. But through all of this — through all of this, Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy. I have no animosity towards him.
This is all business. If you don’t get the ratings, they take you off the air . . . You can do almost anything. You get ratings, they keep you. I don’t get ratings he wants. That was NBC’s solution. It didn’t work, so we might have an answer for you tomorrow.
So, we’ll see. That’s basically where it is.'
18 January 2010
NBC Needs To Redefine Itself After Leno Experiment
USA Today
PASADENA, Calif. — TV's late shift is shifting again, and in a way that could retool a television institution, The Tonight Show.
On Sunday, NBC confirmed what was Hollywood's hottest rumor all weekend: The network is dropping The Jay Leno Show from its prime-time lineup after his Feb. 11 show. The former Tonight Show host will return to late night on March 1, after NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics, in a half-hour format in his old perch at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT. The Tonight Show, now hosted by Conan O'Brien, would move from the after-news slot it has occupied since the '60s to after midnight: 12:05 a.m. ET/PT.
NBC's shift marks a quick end to a five-month experiment that the network heralded as a new way to program prime-time television: by positioning Leno's topical, relatively inexpensive-to-produce show as a lead-in to local newscasts. But Leno's mediocre ratings drew complaints from affiliates and helped fuel the latest drama to beset the struggling fourth-place network. The network unraveled a risky move aimed not only at cutting costs but also at keeping Leno from defecting to another network after NBC anointed O'Brien as his successor on The Tonight Show.
Leno's return to late night throws into question the future complexion of the legendary Tonight Show— at 55, one of the longest-running shows on television — as well as the future of its new host, O'Brien.
O'Brien now faces a difficult choice: Does he stay at the network that promised five years ago he'd get the primary late-night slot? Or does he bolt for another network and collect an eight-figure penalty NBC would face for reneging on his Tonight Show deal?
If O'Brien bolts, The Tonight Show would return to a format viewers saw for 17 years: an hour-long show with Leno as host, starting at 11:35 ET/PT.
NBC's move indicates that "viewers want scripted shows at 10 p.m.," says Shari Anne Brill, analyst at big ad firm Carat USA. In prime time, Leno's talk/variety hybrid was "something done at the beginning of television. Networks still need a (big) audience."
NBC Universal TV chief Jeff Gaspin acknowledged Sunday that Leno's prime-time effort didn't measure up and said he made the call to cut bait late last month: "While it was performing at an acceptable level (financially) for the network, it did not meet our affiliates' needs, and we realized we had to make a change."
The main complaint: Stations' late local newscasts, which deliver a big chunk of their profits through TV ads, were hemorrhaging viewers. And O'Brien's late-night ratings were little more than half the total Leno had claimed last season, ending NBC's 15-year run in first place in the late-night time slot.
Gaspin said his goal is to "keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy (Fallon) as part of our late-night lineup." Under the new plan, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon would move from 12:35 a.m. to 1:05. (Carson Daly's talk show, which now follows Fallon, would be canceled, though Daly would remain under contract at the network.)
But "as much as I would like to tell you we have a done deal, we know that's not true," Gaspin said. "The talks are still ongoing."
NBC expects to resolve O'Brien's fate, one way or the other, by the time the Winter Olympics begin Feb. 12. The Olympics are expected to deliver a big audience the network plans to use to promote its rebuilt prime-time and late-night schedules starting March 1.
"What's important to Jay is telling jokes at 11:30, and what was really important to Conan beyond that is having the franchise of The Tonight Show," Gaspin said. "I obviously couldn't satisfy either with 100% of what they wanted; that's why I came up with this compromise."
O'Brien to Fox?
NBC wouldn't discuss terms of O'Brien's contract. If he stays, he'd wind up competing not only with current rival David Letterman on CBS but would face CBS' Craig Ferguson and go head-to-head with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, who appeals primarily to a similar audience of young men. And O'Brien almost certainly would lose even more viewers by reverting to a later time slot.
Should O'Brien leave the network, Leno would again inherit The Tonight Show, a post he never wanted to leave. O'Brien's most obvious destination would be Fox, which expressed interest in him in 2004 and does not currently program in late night except on Saturdays. (ABC says it does not plan to pursue O'Brien.)
In a statement, Fox said that "we've always been interested in late night, and we're always looking to bring great new talent to Fox."
Many Fox stations, however, earn big profits with syndicated reruns of shows such as Seinfeld and The Simpsons in late night, and they might balk at turning an hour over to the network at 11 p.m. ET/PT. That, coupled with the cost of bringing O'Brien aboard, makes such a move by him anything but a slam dunk.
O'Brien's representatives could not be reached for comment Sunday, but on Friday's show he addressed rumored changes, joking that "NBC is going to throw me and Jay in a pit with sharpened sticks. The one who crawls out alive gets to leave NBC. Trust me, that is an appealing proposition."
Leno, too, joked last week about reports that his prime-time show would be canceled. "I don't think there is any truth to the rumors," he told viewers. "See, it's always been my experience that NBC only cancels you when you're in first place."
While hosting The Tonight Show, O'Brien has shed many of Leno's former late-night viewers. Meanwhile, Leno's prime-time audience (about 5.6 million viewers overall) was 30% lower than the schedule it replaced among NBC's young-adult target audience.
Many of those viewers went to basic cable channels, not to broadcast rivals, according to Nielsen research. During local newscasts, such viewers also often use their DVRs to catch up on recorded shows. It all has contributed to plummeting local newscasts on NBC's affiliates.
Gaspin said about one-third of NBC's 200 or so stations "were really hurt by it and incredibly concerned" by Leno's ratings, warning they'd act if NBC didn't.
"The drumbeat started getting louder and louder, and toward the middle of December they made it very clear they were going to start getting more vocal about their displeasure and were starting to talk about the possibility of pre-emptions," Gaspin said, referring to local affiliates' option to run their own programming rather than that provided by the network. "It was then that I realized this was not going to go well. This was going to be a PR nightmare."
Affiliates sought move
NBC considered several other options, including cutting Leno to fewer nights or keeping the prime-time show until September, but ultimately decided to wipe the slate clean sooner.
"I would have much preferred to concentrate on launching new shows than now trying to explain to people why we have an (entirely) new schedule. I would have much preferred to wait until September," Gaspin said. But "we needed to signal to stations that we were willing to act."
Gaspin denied the move was hastened by cable giant Comcast's agreement last month to acquire a controlling interest in NBC Universal, which faces regulatory hurdles that could be complicated by station unrest.
Many advertisers were dubious about Leno's prime-time prospects in the first place. They questioned why NBC would go through with a plan to unseat the king of late night, a plan put in place by Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's CEO.
"I was kind of lukewarm to the whole idea," Brill said. "They really hurt themselves by doing this, but they hurt themselves the last two years by cutting back on development" of new series. "There were a lot of forces at work helping to create the situation they're in."
Even Jerry Seinfeld, the Leno Show's first guest, weighed in Sunday, saying it was "the right idea at the wrong time. I'm proud of NBC that they had the guts to try something so original."
Gaspin agreed that other programming failures compounded the debacle. "Had we been stronger (from) 8 to 10 (p.m.), perhaps Jay would have been stronger at 10 and the affiliates wouldn't have had as much an issue," he said in an interview. The network's ability to develop lasting dramas also was limited by turning over five prime-time hours a week to Leno.
Gannett, parent of USA TODAY, owns 11 NBC stations and delivers the most viewers for the network apart from NBC-owned outlets. Dave Lougee, president of Gannett's broadcast group, said bumping Leno back to late night was "a move that needed to take place," since his low ratings "impacted us like everybody. We're very appreciative that Jay is sticking around in his old time slot and very hopeful that Conan will stay with the network as well. They're both great talents."
Michael Fiorile, president of NBC's affiliates board, called Leno's exit from prime time "a great move" for local stations. "We admire their willingness to innovate, and their willingness to change course when it didn't work for us."
It's unclear whether the public profiles of Leno and O'Brien will suffer as a result of NBC's musical chairs. That won't be known until the dust settles and viewers re-embrace the hosts — or don't.
To replace Leno at 10 starting March 1, Gaspin said, NBC is likely to add two more hours of scripted dramas (it can use repeats of Friday Night Lights and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which now first air on other networks), along with an expanded Dateline NBC. Other current series, such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, could shift to later slots.
For fall, NBC ordered seven drama pilots Sunday as potential replacements, including series from high-profile producers David E. Kelley, Jerry Bruckheimer and J.J. Abrams and remakes of Prime Suspect and Rockford Files.
Gaspin said NBC is spending 30% to 35% more on new-program development than in recent seasons and promises viewers will see "high-quality, more traditional NBC programming" next fall with "smart, sophisticated and fun content." After years of audience erosion, "I think we have a shot at actually going up."
Jonathan Littman, who heads Bruckheimer's TV division, welcomed the Leno news.
"Any time you can get more scripted programs on the air, the better," he said, noting that a typical drama employs 200 workers.
"A lot of people really saw this as having a pretty negative impact on our business," said CBS programming chief Nina Tassler, who called Leno's move to prime time "an experiment that obviously did not work."
On Sunday, NBC confirmed what was Hollywood's hottest rumor all weekend: The network is dropping The Jay Leno Show from its prime-time lineup after his Feb. 11 show. The former Tonight Show host will return to late night on March 1, after NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics, in a half-hour format in his old perch at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT. The Tonight Show, now hosted by Conan O'Brien, would move from the after-news slot it has occupied since the '60s to after midnight: 12:05 a.m. ET/PT.
NBC's shift marks a quick end to a five-month experiment that the network heralded as a new way to program prime-time television: by positioning Leno's topical, relatively inexpensive-to-produce show as a lead-in to local newscasts. But Leno's mediocre ratings drew complaints from affiliates and helped fuel the latest drama to beset the struggling fourth-place network. The network unraveled a risky move aimed not only at cutting costs but also at keeping Leno from defecting to another network after NBC anointed O'Brien as his successor on The Tonight Show.
Leno's return to late night throws into question the future complexion of the legendary Tonight Show— at 55, one of the longest-running shows on television — as well as the future of its new host, O'Brien.
O'Brien now faces a difficult choice: Does he stay at the network that promised five years ago he'd get the primary late-night slot? Or does he bolt for another network and collect an eight-figure penalty NBC would face for reneging on his Tonight Show deal?
If O'Brien bolts, The Tonight Show would return to a format viewers saw for 17 years: an hour-long show with Leno as host, starting at 11:35 ET/PT.
NBC's move indicates that "viewers want scripted shows at 10 p.m.," says Shari Anne Brill, analyst at big ad firm Carat USA. In prime time, Leno's talk/variety hybrid was "something done at the beginning of television. Networks still need a (big) audience."
NBC Universal TV chief Jeff Gaspin acknowledged Sunday that Leno's prime-time effort didn't measure up and said he made the call to cut bait late last month: "While it was performing at an acceptable level (financially) for the network, it did not meet our affiliates' needs, and we realized we had to make a change."
The main complaint: Stations' late local newscasts, which deliver a big chunk of their profits through TV ads, were hemorrhaging viewers. And O'Brien's late-night ratings were little more than half the total Leno had claimed last season, ending NBC's 15-year run in first place in the late-night time slot.
Gaspin said his goal is to "keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy (Fallon) as part of our late-night lineup." Under the new plan, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon would move from 12:35 a.m. to 1:05. (Carson Daly's talk show, which now follows Fallon, would be canceled, though Daly would remain under contract at the network.)
But "as much as I would like to tell you we have a done deal, we know that's not true," Gaspin said. "The talks are still ongoing."
NBC expects to resolve O'Brien's fate, one way or the other, by the time the Winter Olympics begin Feb. 12. The Olympics are expected to deliver a big audience the network plans to use to promote its rebuilt prime-time and late-night schedules starting March 1.
"What's important to Jay is telling jokes at 11:30, and what was really important to Conan beyond that is having the franchise of The Tonight Show," Gaspin said. "I obviously couldn't satisfy either with 100% of what they wanted; that's why I came up with this compromise."
O'Brien to Fox?
NBC wouldn't discuss terms of O'Brien's contract. If he stays, he'd wind up competing not only with current rival David Letterman on CBS but would face CBS' Craig Ferguson and go head-to-head with ABC's Jimmy Kimmel, who appeals primarily to a similar audience of young men. And O'Brien almost certainly would lose even more viewers by reverting to a later time slot.
Should O'Brien leave the network, Leno would again inherit The Tonight Show, a post he never wanted to leave. O'Brien's most obvious destination would be Fox, which expressed interest in him in 2004 and does not currently program in late night except on Saturdays. (ABC says it does not plan to pursue O'Brien.)
In a statement, Fox said that "we've always been interested in late night, and we're always looking to bring great new talent to Fox."
Many Fox stations, however, earn big profits with syndicated reruns of shows such as Seinfeld and The Simpsons in late night, and they might balk at turning an hour over to the network at 11 p.m. ET/PT. That, coupled with the cost of bringing O'Brien aboard, makes such a move by him anything but a slam dunk.
O'Brien's representatives could not be reached for comment Sunday, but on Friday's show he addressed rumored changes, joking that "NBC is going to throw me and Jay in a pit with sharpened sticks. The one who crawls out alive gets to leave NBC. Trust me, that is an appealing proposition."
Leno, too, joked last week about reports that his prime-time show would be canceled. "I don't think there is any truth to the rumors," he told viewers. "See, it's always been my experience that NBC only cancels you when you're in first place."
While hosting The Tonight Show, O'Brien has shed many of Leno's former late-night viewers. Meanwhile, Leno's prime-time audience (about 5.6 million viewers overall) was 30% lower than the schedule it replaced among NBC's young-adult target audience.
Many of those viewers went to basic cable channels, not to broadcast rivals, according to Nielsen research. During local newscasts, such viewers also often use their DVRs to catch up on recorded shows. It all has contributed to plummeting local newscasts on NBC's affiliates.
Gaspin said about one-third of NBC's 200 or so stations "were really hurt by it and incredibly concerned" by Leno's ratings, warning they'd act if NBC didn't.
"The drumbeat started getting louder and louder, and toward the middle of December they made it very clear they were going to start getting more vocal about their displeasure and were starting to talk about the possibility of pre-emptions," Gaspin said, referring to local affiliates' option to run their own programming rather than that provided by the network. "It was then that I realized this was not going to go well. This was going to be a PR nightmare."
Affiliates sought move
NBC considered several other options, including cutting Leno to fewer nights or keeping the prime-time show until September, but ultimately decided to wipe the slate clean sooner.
"I would have much preferred to concentrate on launching new shows than now trying to explain to people why we have an (entirely) new schedule. I would have much preferred to wait until September," Gaspin said. But "we needed to signal to stations that we were willing to act."
Gaspin denied the move was hastened by cable giant Comcast's agreement last month to acquire a controlling interest in NBC Universal, which faces regulatory hurdles that could be complicated by station unrest.
Many advertisers were dubious about Leno's prime-time prospects in the first place. They questioned why NBC would go through with a plan to unseat the king of late night, a plan put in place by Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's CEO.
"I was kind of lukewarm to the whole idea," Brill said. "They really hurt themselves by doing this, but they hurt themselves the last two years by cutting back on development" of new series. "There were a lot of forces at work helping to create the situation they're in."
Even Jerry Seinfeld, the Leno Show's first guest, weighed in Sunday, saying it was "the right idea at the wrong time. I'm proud of NBC that they had the guts to try something so original."
Gaspin agreed that other programming failures compounded the debacle. "Had we been stronger (from) 8 to 10 (p.m.), perhaps Jay would have been stronger at 10 and the affiliates wouldn't have had as much an issue," he said in an interview. The network's ability to develop lasting dramas also was limited by turning over five prime-time hours a week to Leno.
Gannett, parent of USA TODAY, owns 11 NBC stations and delivers the most viewers for the network apart from NBC-owned outlets. Dave Lougee, president of Gannett's broadcast group, said bumping Leno back to late night was "a move that needed to take place," since his low ratings "impacted us like everybody. We're very appreciative that Jay is sticking around in his old time slot and very hopeful that Conan will stay with the network as well. They're both great talents."
Michael Fiorile, president of NBC's affiliates board, called Leno's exit from prime time "a great move" for local stations. "We admire their willingness to innovate, and their willingness to change course when it didn't work for us."
It's unclear whether the public profiles of Leno and O'Brien will suffer as a result of NBC's musical chairs. That won't be known until the dust settles and viewers re-embrace the hosts — or don't.
To replace Leno at 10 starting March 1, Gaspin said, NBC is likely to add two more hours of scripted dramas (it can use repeats of Friday Night Lights and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which now first air on other networks), along with an expanded Dateline NBC. Other current series, such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, could shift to later slots.
For fall, NBC ordered seven drama pilots Sunday as potential replacements, including series from high-profile producers David E. Kelley, Jerry Bruckheimer and J.J. Abrams and remakes of Prime Suspect and Rockford Files.
Gaspin said NBC is spending 30% to 35% more on new-program development than in recent seasons and promises viewers will see "high-quality, more traditional NBC programming" next fall with "smart, sophisticated and fun content." After years of audience erosion, "I think we have a shot at actually going up."
Jonathan Littman, who heads Bruckheimer's TV division, welcomed the Leno news.
"Any time you can get more scripted programs on the air, the better," he said, noting that a typical drama employs 200 workers.
"A lot of people really saw this as having a pretty negative impact on our business," said CBS programming chief Nina Tassler, who called Leno's move to prime time "an experiment that obviously did not work."
15 January 2010
Ailes Finds Himself In Murdoch Family Firing Line
Guardian UK
Rotund, bald and ferocious, the Fox television boss Roger Ailes is said to have two speeds – attack and destroy. Every night under his watch, millions of Americans are enthused, engrossed or appalled by a lively diet of angry rightwing rhetoric served up on Fox's rolling news channel. But the heady mix of hectoring, finger-pointing and liberal-bashing may be proving too spicy even for the strong stomachs of his employers, the Murdoch clan.
Rupert Murdoch's family, a close-knit, powerful and discreet dynasty scattered across three continents, prefer to air their dirty washing in private. Rumoured squabbles over inheritance, succession and over Murdoch's choice of wife have generally played out behind closed doors.
But a gaping crack appeared in the edifice of unity this week as Murdoch's son-in-law, Matthew Freud, delivered an astonishingly public broadside against Fox News. Freud, a media-savvy London public relations supremo married to Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, told the New York Times that members of the Murdoch family had become embarrassed by Fox's output: "I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes's horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corp, its founder and every other global media business aspires to."
Freud is said to be adamant that he was speaking on his own behalf, but he is also unrepentant. His words were calibrated to exert maximum damage and are a stunning blow to one of Murdoch's longest serving and most successful lieutenants. Their impact was all the more powerful because such moments of indiscretion are anathema to Murdoch, as one high-ranking former employee recalls. "When you are in the inner circle, you are expected to keep your mouth shut. The mafia call it omerta – the code of silence."
On the face of it, Freud's remark indicates a rift within the family. But some Murdoch-watchers believe it may be a more subtle signal. When Freud spoke, it was not his voice but Murdoch's that many media observers in the US and Britain heard. The author Michael Wolff, who recently penned a biography of Murdoch, believes Freud's outburst may be part of an orchestrated attempt to undermine a lieutenant who is getting a little too powerful. He points out that none-too-discreet "whispering campaigns" pre-empted the departure of other top executives.
"In many instances, it takes about a year to fire someone at a high level within News Corp. They kind of marginalise you, stop speaking to you and eventually you get the message that it's over."
A former political strategist who worked on the successful campaigns of three Republican presidents, Ailes was hired by Murdoch in 1996 to launch Fox News, in a widely scorned effort to challenge the broadcast establishment.
Some 14 years later, Fox is by far America's favourite specialist news channel, pulling in 2.1 million prime-time viewers every evening – more than its two main rivals, CNN and MSNBC, combined. In business terms, it is a jewel in the crown of Murdoch's global media empire, tipped to make $700m (£430m) in operating profit in a difficult year for News Corp. Hit by asset writedowns, the parent company made a loss of $3.3bn last year.
"Fox is a star performer, without a doubt," says Edward Atorino, a media analyst at Wall Street stockbroking firm Benchmark, and Ailes is a key piece in the News Corp jigsaw. "There aren't too many Roger Aileses around … If he were to leave, it would leave a huge hole."
With a pay package of $23m in 2009, Ailes made more money than Murdoch himself. Unusually, he has revealed that he personally lobbied Murdoch after hearing that his US papers might endorse Barack Obama. That irritated younger members of the Murdoch dynasty, while Fox's coverage of Obama since has left some of them horrified. Andrew Neil, who edited Murdoch's Sunday Times for over a decade and is also a former News Corp executive, says James Murdoch and Freud's wife Elisabeth both supported Obama, while Elisabeth raised funds for the Democrats. Neither are liberal, he concedes: "They just happen to be marginally more liberal than Rupert. It's a difference of tone."
Neil doesn't buy the theory that Freud was acting with Murdoch's consent, but agrees that "he is reflecting the views of the younger Murdochs". "What better way to let their liberal friends know they are upset about the way Fox News is behaving than on the front page of the New York Times, the liberal journal of record?"
Rupert Murdoch's family, a close-knit, powerful and discreet dynasty scattered across three continents, prefer to air their dirty washing in private. Rumoured squabbles over inheritance, succession and over Murdoch's choice of wife have generally played out behind closed doors.
But a gaping crack appeared in the edifice of unity this week as Murdoch's son-in-law, Matthew Freud, delivered an astonishingly public broadside against Fox News. Freud, a media-savvy London public relations supremo married to Murdoch's daughter, Elisabeth, told the New York Times that members of the Murdoch family had become embarrassed by Fox's output: "I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes's horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corp, its founder and every other global media business aspires to."
Freud is said to be adamant that he was speaking on his own behalf, but he is also unrepentant. His words were calibrated to exert maximum damage and are a stunning blow to one of Murdoch's longest serving and most successful lieutenants. Their impact was all the more powerful because such moments of indiscretion are anathema to Murdoch, as one high-ranking former employee recalls. "When you are in the inner circle, you are expected to keep your mouth shut. The mafia call it omerta – the code of silence."
On the face of it, Freud's remark indicates a rift within the family. But some Murdoch-watchers believe it may be a more subtle signal. When Freud spoke, it was not his voice but Murdoch's that many media observers in the US and Britain heard. The author Michael Wolff, who recently penned a biography of Murdoch, believes Freud's outburst may be part of an orchestrated attempt to undermine a lieutenant who is getting a little too powerful. He points out that none-too-discreet "whispering campaigns" pre-empted the departure of other top executives.
"In many instances, it takes about a year to fire someone at a high level within News Corp. They kind of marginalise you, stop speaking to you and eventually you get the message that it's over."
A former political strategist who worked on the successful campaigns of three Republican presidents, Ailes was hired by Murdoch in 1996 to launch Fox News, in a widely scorned effort to challenge the broadcast establishment.
Some 14 years later, Fox is by far America's favourite specialist news channel, pulling in 2.1 million prime-time viewers every evening – more than its two main rivals, CNN and MSNBC, combined. In business terms, it is a jewel in the crown of Murdoch's global media empire, tipped to make $700m (£430m) in operating profit in a difficult year for News Corp. Hit by asset writedowns, the parent company made a loss of $3.3bn last year.
"Fox is a star performer, without a doubt," says Edward Atorino, a media analyst at Wall Street stockbroking firm Benchmark, and Ailes is a key piece in the News Corp jigsaw. "There aren't too many Roger Aileses around … If he were to leave, it would leave a huge hole."
With a pay package of $23m in 2009, Ailes made more money than Murdoch himself. Unusually, he has revealed that he personally lobbied Murdoch after hearing that his US papers might endorse Barack Obama. That irritated younger members of the Murdoch dynasty, while Fox's coverage of Obama since has left some of them horrified. Andrew Neil, who edited Murdoch's Sunday Times for over a decade and is also a former News Corp executive, says James Murdoch and Freud's wife Elisabeth both supported Obama, while Elisabeth raised funds for the Democrats. Neither are liberal, he concedes: "They just happen to be marginally more liberal than Rupert. It's a difference of tone."
Neil doesn't buy the theory that Freud was acting with Murdoch's consent, but agrees that "he is reflecting the views of the younger Murdochs". "What better way to let their liberal friends know they are upset about the way Fox News is behaving than on the front page of the New York Times, the liberal journal of record?"
Although promoted under the slogan "fair and balanced", Fox News horrifies political moderates with the hectoring rhetoric of its prime-time evening anchors. One man in particular, Glenn Beck, raises liberal hackles with his furious diatribes against Obama. Advertisers including Procter & Gamble and the insurer Geico withdrew commercials from Beck's nightly show in August when the anchorman accused Obama of being "racist" towards white people. Just this week, Beck used a blackboard and chalk to illustrate the supposed similarities of Obama's policies to those of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez.
Beck is by no means unique. Conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly has used his primetime Fox show to label Mexicans immigrant "wetbacks". A passionate opponent of abortion, he was criticised last year after a Kansas abortion doctor, George Tiller, was murdered. Repeatedly dubbing him "Tiller the baby killer", O'Reilly had eviscerated him for operating a "death mill" and "executing babies" for profit.
Fox's weekend line-up also includes a chatshow hosted by the former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, while Sarah Palin was signed up this week as a political commentator.
Fox's style was inspired by America's legion of rightwing radio "shock jocks", according to Kerwin Swint, author of Dark Genius, a biography of Ailes. "It's very anti-government, very anti-establishment," he says. "Part of Ailes's philosophy for television is that it should be confrontational. That draws viewers, it's exciting for people and it's always been a staple of talk radio."
Irritated by Fox's partisan coverage, the White House has upped the ante. Obama has described the Fox network as "entirely devoted to attacking my administration" and has repeatedly snubbed its shows. The White House has been accused of failing to call on Fox journalists at press conferences and freezing the channel's reporters out on overseas trips. Obama's officials are unapologetic – Anita Dunn, former White House communications director, described Fox as "the communications arm of the Republican party".
Fox argues that during daylight hours its coverage is objective, drawing a distinction between daytime reporting and opinion-driven evening shows in the same way that newspapers distinguish between news pages and editorials. And Fox has a track record of breaking major stories – including news damaging to Republicans. But clashing with the White House may not help Murdoch's other business interests, and he has faced pressure to tone Fox down.
"He has members of his family riding him hard about this all the time," says Wolff, adding that Murdoch has become increasingly embroiled with the liberal "chattering classes" of Manhattan and Hollywood under the influence of his wife, Wendi Deng. "He spends a lot of time socialising with people who tell him rather constantly that Fox News is contemptible."
News Corporation was quick to dismiss the row this week, portraying Freud as an outsider. A spokeswoman said: "Matthew Freud's opinions are his own and in no way reflect the views of Rupert Murdoch, who is proud of Roger Ailes and Fox News."
Ailes himself sought to defuse any notion of a rift, telling the Los Angeles Times that "the entire Murdoch family" had always been supportive of him: "There is nothing to the idea that I have any problem with the children."
Jack Shafer of the website Slate suspects Ailes is getting too uppity for his boss's liking: "There's only one star in the News Corporation firmament and it's Rupert Murdoch. You succeed there by keeping your head down and working hard. Murdoch despises glory-grabbers." Neil, who was sacked by Murdoch, concurs. "He hates it when the hired hands get above themselves, so Ailes's days are numbered."
Murdoch will be flying to the Swiss ski resort of Davos in two weeks to rub shoulders with the world's business and political elite. Unusually, Freud won't be attending. Murdoch watchers may seize on that as evidence that Freud has been frozen out by Murdoch, at least for now. Ultimately, however, it may be the rumbustious Ailes who is left out in the cold.
Beck is by no means unique. Conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly has used his primetime Fox show to label Mexicans immigrant "wetbacks". A passionate opponent of abortion, he was criticised last year after a Kansas abortion doctor, George Tiller, was murdered. Repeatedly dubbing him "Tiller the baby killer", O'Reilly had eviscerated him for operating a "death mill" and "executing babies" for profit.
Fox's weekend line-up also includes a chatshow hosted by the former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, while Sarah Palin was signed up this week as a political commentator.
Fox's style was inspired by America's legion of rightwing radio "shock jocks", according to Kerwin Swint, author of Dark Genius, a biography of Ailes. "It's very anti-government, very anti-establishment," he says. "Part of Ailes's philosophy for television is that it should be confrontational. That draws viewers, it's exciting for people and it's always been a staple of talk radio."
Irritated by Fox's partisan coverage, the White House has upped the ante. Obama has described the Fox network as "entirely devoted to attacking my administration" and has repeatedly snubbed its shows. The White House has been accused of failing to call on Fox journalists at press conferences and freezing the channel's reporters out on overseas trips. Obama's officials are unapologetic – Anita Dunn, former White House communications director, described Fox as "the communications arm of the Republican party".
Fox argues that during daylight hours its coverage is objective, drawing a distinction between daytime reporting and opinion-driven evening shows in the same way that newspapers distinguish between news pages and editorials. And Fox has a track record of breaking major stories – including news damaging to Republicans. But clashing with the White House may not help Murdoch's other business interests, and he has faced pressure to tone Fox down.
"He has members of his family riding him hard about this all the time," says Wolff, adding that Murdoch has become increasingly embroiled with the liberal "chattering classes" of Manhattan and Hollywood under the influence of his wife, Wendi Deng. "He spends a lot of time socialising with people who tell him rather constantly that Fox News is contemptible."
News Corporation was quick to dismiss the row this week, portraying Freud as an outsider. A spokeswoman said: "Matthew Freud's opinions are his own and in no way reflect the views of Rupert Murdoch, who is proud of Roger Ailes and Fox News."
Ailes himself sought to defuse any notion of a rift, telling the Los Angeles Times that "the entire Murdoch family" had always been supportive of him: "There is nothing to the idea that I have any problem with the children."
Jack Shafer of the website Slate suspects Ailes is getting too uppity for his boss's liking: "There's only one star in the News Corporation firmament and it's Rupert Murdoch. You succeed there by keeping your head down and working hard. Murdoch despises glory-grabbers." Neil, who was sacked by Murdoch, concurs. "He hates it when the hired hands get above themselves, so Ailes's days are numbered."
Murdoch will be flying to the Swiss ski resort of Davos in two weeks to rub shoulders with the world's business and political elite. Unusually, Freud won't be attending. Murdoch watchers may seize on that as evidence that Freud has been frozen out by Murdoch, at least for now. Ultimately, however, it may be the rumbustious Ailes who is left out in the cold.
13 January 2010
Book Review: 3 New Books Search For The Future Of Media
USA Today
This is an awkward time to write about the media business. We know a lot about the damage that the Internet and other technologies have done to traditional movie, television, music and print companies. It's still unclear, though, whether the familiar pillars of civic and popular culture are merely teetering, or about to collapse — and, if they do fall, what will take their place.
Still, the story is too important to resist. And three books provide useful, but different, perspectives for readers who want to understand the current mess.
The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong with the World's Leading Media Companies is the most challenging book in this group. But it's also the most important for anyone who wants a sophisticated analysis of how media businesses work — or, more precisely, how the authors believe they should work.
Jonathan Knee, Bruce Greenwald and Ava Seave deftly and often entertainingly cut a generation of media CEOs down to size. Curse shows that many of them were geniuses at finding ways to stuff their pockets with cash, but pompous lightweights when it came to serving their shareholders or preparing their companies for the digital onslaught.
(Full disclosure: The book grew out of a course the authors teach at the Columbia Business School, which I took in 2004.)
The authors throw their sharpest knives at moguls in hit-driven businesses who think they're hot stuff because they're tight with entertainment stars or have a sixth sense for what TV watchers, moviegoers or music listeners like. That sounds impressive in magazine profiles, or when companies try to justify their CEOs' inflated salaries. But the data show that these creative-friendly executives don't consistently deliver big profits.
The same can be said for moguls who love megamergers, including ones that blend news and entertainment with distribution, such as TV networks and cable systems. They dream that their size will enable them to beat or circumvent all comers.
But the winners in media avoid competition. When companies have competition, the authors say, they should divide the market and fix prices (using code so as not to rouse antitrust officials).
That's great for investors; not so much for consumers.
And it's especially cold comfort for most companies trying to make it in the digital age. How do you create barriers to entry in a medium that enables everyone to reach a worldwide audience?
Still, the story is too important to resist. And three books provide useful, but different, perspectives for readers who want to understand the current mess.
The Curse of the Mogul: What's Wrong with the World's Leading Media Companies is the most challenging book in this group. But it's also the most important for anyone who wants a sophisticated analysis of how media businesses work — or, more precisely, how the authors believe they should work.
Jonathan Knee, Bruce Greenwald and Ava Seave deftly and often entertainingly cut a generation of media CEOs down to size. Curse shows that many of them were geniuses at finding ways to stuff their pockets with cash, but pompous lightweights when it came to serving their shareholders or preparing their companies for the digital onslaught.
(Full disclosure: The book grew out of a course the authors teach at the Columbia Business School, which I took in 2004.)
The authors throw their sharpest knives at moguls in hit-driven businesses who think they're hot stuff because they're tight with entertainment stars or have a sixth sense for what TV watchers, moviegoers or music listeners like. That sounds impressive in magazine profiles, or when companies try to justify their CEOs' inflated salaries. But the data show that these creative-friendly executives don't consistently deliver big profits.
The same can be said for moguls who love megamergers, including ones that blend news and entertainment with distribution, such as TV networks and cable systems. They dream that their size will enable them to beat or circumvent all comers.
But the winners in media avoid competition. When companies have competition, the authors say, they should divide the market and fix prices (using code so as not to rouse antitrust officials).
That's great for investors; not so much for consumers.
And it's especially cold comfort for most companies trying to make it in the digital age. How do you create barriers to entry in a medium that enables everyone to reach a worldwide audience?
That's what makes Google so intriguing, and a worthy subject for New Yorker writer Ken Auletta's 11th book, Googled: The End of the World As We Know It. Unlike Curse, which treats moguls with derision, Auletta's more interested in penetrating the often secretive world of the business elite and telling the stories with skill, intelligence and respect.
As the media industry's most inside outsider, Auletta has become its chief storyteller — much as The Making of the President author Theodore White was to presidential campaigns.
That makes Googled a fine guide for people who want to know how the force behind the leading Internet search engine, YouTube and Android phones positioned itself to become the first $100 billion media company.
Unfortunately, the story delves too deeply into Silicon Valley's cool, insular subculture to grip readers who aren't already interested in Google. For all of its importance in contemporary life, this media company is about engineers solving technical and business problems — not entertainers who want to touch people's hearts or journalists who want to engage their minds.
Also, Auletta never seems to get close enough to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to humanize them.
So the book's detailed accounts of key events in Google's development read more like a series of stories from a trade magazine than a compelling work of literary journalism.
Just as important, it's still too early to say anything that's meaningful about where Google's taking the media business.
Bob Garfield, Advertising Age editor at large and co-host of NPR's On The Media, faces a similar problem in The Chaos Scenario, a sweeping, often provocative and sometimes entertaining series of essays about how the media business is changing.
Unlike Auletta, Garfield seems eager to channel Hunter Thompson. He taps his keen sense for the absurd to riff on social trends and personal experiences as he makes bold predictions about what he thinks will happen to media companies.
But the effort offers too few flashes of brilliant insight, and strains too hard to impress with bluster, anecdotes and shtick.
The bulk of Chaos suggests that the gig is up for traditional media. These companies are wedded to obsolete models and arrogantly fail to listen to their customers.
Garfield, who likes to label things, considers listening so important that he's elevated it to a field of study he calls Listenomics.
Garfield seems OK with the prospect of newsrooms and studios going under: The masses have "aggregated curiosity, IQ to spare, and all the time in the world," he writes, to replace them with their own news and entertainment.
That's a fascinating possibility.
Sadly, Garfield never develops the evidence and arguments that might support his vaguely libertarian faith.
As the media industry's most inside outsider, Auletta has become its chief storyteller — much as The Making of the President author Theodore White was to presidential campaigns.
That makes Googled a fine guide for people who want to know how the force behind the leading Internet search engine, YouTube and Android phones positioned itself to become the first $100 billion media company.
Unfortunately, the story delves too deeply into Silicon Valley's cool, insular subculture to grip readers who aren't already interested in Google. For all of its importance in contemporary life, this media company is about engineers solving technical and business problems — not entertainers who want to touch people's hearts or journalists who want to engage their minds.
Also, Auletta never seems to get close enough to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to humanize them.
So the book's detailed accounts of key events in Google's development read more like a series of stories from a trade magazine than a compelling work of literary journalism.
Just as important, it's still too early to say anything that's meaningful about where Google's taking the media business.
Bob Garfield, Advertising Age editor at large and co-host of NPR's On The Media, faces a similar problem in The Chaos Scenario, a sweeping, often provocative and sometimes entertaining series of essays about how the media business is changing.Unlike Auletta, Garfield seems eager to channel Hunter Thompson. He taps his keen sense for the absurd to riff on social trends and personal experiences as he makes bold predictions about what he thinks will happen to media companies.
But the effort offers too few flashes of brilliant insight, and strains too hard to impress with bluster, anecdotes and shtick.
The bulk of Chaos suggests that the gig is up for traditional media. These companies are wedded to obsolete models and arrogantly fail to listen to their customers.
Garfield, who likes to label things, considers listening so important that he's elevated it to a field of study he calls Listenomics.
Garfield seems OK with the prospect of newsrooms and studios going under: The masses have "aggregated curiosity, IQ to spare, and all the time in the world," he writes, to replace them with their own news and entertainment.
That's a fascinating possibility.
Sadly, Garfield never develops the evidence and arguments that might support his vaguely libertarian faith.
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