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TV Notes
Leno Speaks Out: 'I Thought I Should Address This'
By Josef Adalian, in his “TV MoJo” blog at TheWrap.com, January 18, 2010

Jay Leno is coming to the defense of... Jay Leno.

The future host of "The Tonight Show" used his broadcast tonight to give his side of the story. Here's the transcript...analysis to follow:

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, ‘okay. 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.’ Okay.

So time goes by and we stay number one up until the day we leave. We hand - (applause)-No, no. Okay, but I’m leaving before my contract is out. About six to eight months early. So before I could go anywhere else, I 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.’ Okay. What are your ideas? They said, ‘how about primetime?’ I said, ‘that will never work.’ No, no, we want to put you on at 10:00. We have done focus groups. People will love you at 10:00. Look at these studies showing Jay’s chin at 10:00. People will go crazy.

Didn’t seem like a good idea at the time. I said, ‘alright, can I keep my staff?’ There are 175 people that work here. I said, ‘can I keep my staff?’ Yes, you can. Let’s try it. We guarantee you two years on the air, guaranteed. Now for the first four or five months against original shows like “CSI” you’ll get killed, but in the spring and summer when the reruns come, that’s when you’ll pick up. Okay, great. I agree to that.

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, okay.

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? Okay. So then, the affiliates are not happy. The affiliates are the ones that own the TV stations. They’re the ones that sort of makes 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, ‘okay, I’m not crazy about doing a half hour, but okay. 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, okay. You think Conan will go for that? Yes, yes. (laughter) Almost guarantee you. I said okay. 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 has a story in the paper 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. I think you know this town, 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.

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/le...-address-13155

Hated by everyone? Perhaps that is a little overstated?

TV Notes
Conan-Leno: Cone of Silence About to Be Imposed?
By Josef Adalian, in his “TV MoJo” blog at TheWrap.com, January 18, 2010

The figures in the late-night crisis are speaking out-- but the cone of silence could soon be imposed as the anticipated divorce deal between NBC and Conan O'Brien is about to be signed.

NBC's exit package with O'Brien will buy -- at least for a while -- the host's silence, an insider familiar with the talks said. O'Brien has agreed to a short period of time in which he can't give any media interviews or slam NBC publicly.

NBC has also agreed to a media blackout. It's assumed Jay Leno will abide by the deal, too, but Peacock executives weren't immediately reachable.

Leno addressed the matter on his "Leno Show" monologue. We're betting Conan does, too: NBC plans to release it shortly.

And NBC U CEO Jeff Zucker is on tonight's "Charlie Rose." Quotes are starting to leak out.

Long-term, insiders said Conan will be able to make NBC jokes on any new show he might host -- though the Peacock always has the option to sue for defamation if it wants to.

This shouldn't be a problem for O'Brien, however, since the host is said to not to be interested in continuing his recent on-air NBC bashing or in getting into any future spats with the network.

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/co...-imposed-13158

Business Notes
Tony V. on Rice, Hill and Fox-TWC Deal
News Corp. TV boss expects recent moves to 'hyperdrive' company's businesses
By Melissa Grego -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/18/2010

News Corp.'s TV operation has made more news in the first two weeks of 2010 than many companies do in a year. The fortnight started with its landmark retransmission consent deal with Time Warner Cable. It concluded with the restructuring of the upper echelons of its TV executive ranks; Fox expressing interest in courting Conan O'Brien, who publicly rejected NBC's plan to move The Tonight Show to midnight; a face-off with the FCC in court in its profanity case; kicking off the ninth season of American Idol; and setting plans for Simon Cowell to wrap his Idol run and launch The X Factor next year.

News Corp.'s man in charge of all things television, Fox Networks Group Chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra, spoke with B&C Executive EditorMelissa Grego about how he expects the company to continue to claim retrans and advertising wins, and why the new executive structure will “hyperdrive” News Corp.'s business. An edited transcript follows.

Earlier this month, you made a landmark retransmission consent deal with Time Warner Cable. News Corp. was asking for $1 per sub for Fox-owned stations and got close, according to reports and sources, with a deal that escalates over five years to 75 cents. Can you confirm the terms?

I won't comment on terms except to say it was a seminal moment in the evolution of broadcast TV, getting this deal and others [with Bright House and AT&T] done at the same time. We were very happy with the result.

Time Warner claimed in an FCC filing that Fox is “hijacking” retrans by getting involved in its affiliates' negotiations. How is Fox working with their affiliates on retrans?

I think the hyperbole that gets out to the public through these negotiations is unfortunate. We're not hijacking anything. We're simply following the agreement we have with our affiliates in that we have the right to approve their retransmission agreements. We have contractual arrangements with our affiliates, and these contracts have been reviewed by the FCC. I'm not concerned that there's anything untoward here.

What's the next step in your retrans evolution?

We'll continue to engage with our partner satellite, cable and telephone companies over the next two to three years, and hope to replicate the same kind of jointly successful deals we made with Time Warner Cable, Bright House and AT&T.

You just restructured the TV organization at News Corp., consolidating sports under David Hill and entertainment under Peter Rice. What is the aim of this structure?

It's to facilitate conversations in the various genres. We have the nonfiction group, which is Nat Geo, soon-to-be Nat Geo Wild and extensions of that business [managed by David Haslingden, Global CEO of National Geographic Channels, who also reports to Vinciquerra]. Then we have the entertainment channels, which are Fox, FX, Fox Movie Channel; then all the sports businesses.

To viewers, it doesn't make any difference whether the content is delivered via satellite, via terrestrial, via fiber optic. They're channels. So what we're doing is looking at these businesses—whether they're broadcast or cable—and recognizing that. We will be better equipped to pass information, use best practices amongst the various channels and share ideas among the various genres that can benefit those businesses.

We have the No. 1 broadcast network in Fox; we have FX, which for the last quarter was the No. 3 cable net in 18-49. Nat Geo is on a big run, Soccer is on a big run and Speed has improved. So we're in a really good place and want to put those into hyperdrive, and continue to be a dominant content producer in America and around the world.

What are some of the things you expect David Hill to accomplish by putting national and regional sports together?

The real addition here is putting the broadcast network next to the cable networks. The national cable and regional networks were together in my group before. We did some significant things together—we did the BCS with Fox Sports, with the regionals and with our national networks; and we share programming amongst Speed Channel, the regionals and all the networks. So there was some of that going on. I'm looking at this as a way to, again, hyperdrive more of that.

Peter Rice has been at the broadcast network for close to a year. What has been his impact on the network so far?

Peter got ramped up very quickly with what's going on with the broadcast network; I think he would admit there's still a ways to go. But adding the minds of FX and the broadcast network together in a room, I think we can see some real advantages come from that. We'll have Peter manage that process. He's not going to be managing FX day-to-day, hands-on, but he's going to try to coordinate ways to advance the program development of both channels by fostering collaboration amongst the very smart people we have at both places.

Ratings for the premiere for American Idol were on par with last season's premiere. What do the results portend for the show's performance this season?

It shows that American Idol clearly is still far and away the No. 1 show in America and will continue that track this year. We haven't seen Ellen [DeGeneres] live on television yet, but we've seen her in Hollywood and we think she's going to do terrific. We think the relationship between the judges will be very strong and positive, and you're going to see some very funny and interesting moments between them. So we're optimistic that the show is going to do very well.

What can you do to keep The X Factor from seeming like another season of Idol and spreading the audience’s attention too thin?

Idol will be early in the year, X Factor will be late in the year. They’ll be separated by a substantial amount of time in the year. And the shows are very different. Number one, the judges aren’t impartial on X Factor; they actually choose talent, try to help talent. And number two, there is no limit on age so there’s a much broader range from which to draw talent. There are not just individual singers either. It’s a very different show. It will be shot differently with a very different feel and very different aura about it. I’m confident we can keep them separate. In Great Britain there’s both Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor, and they’re the No. 1 and No. 2 shows in Great Britain.

Let’s talk about another show. In B&C’s analysis of how Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien would potentially work out for Fox affiliates in late night, we found they stand to do better sticking with the syndicated programming they have there because they have more ad inventory and get similar ratings to Conan on NBC. Would the network consider giving affiliates more inventory than it typically would to make this work for affils?

We don’t know what Conan can or will do because he’s under contract at NBC. That has to play itself out first. But when you look at a show like this, you have to look at it from the perspective of it as a business and if it would be profitable as a business. If not, it doesn’t even make sense to look at late night. If you give more inventory to affiliates, there’s less revenue at the network, and then it affects the economic ability to do the show you want to do.

This is all a hypothetical conversation because we don’t know what’s going to happen, and we certainly respect the contract he has with NBC.

Given all that is going on just weeks into 2010, it looks like a busy year ahead. Will News Corp. and TV have some big wins to build its future on this year?

I hesitate to say this because anytime you start to feel good about what you’re doing, some crisis develops. But the business are all doing extremely well, and we’re all happy with the process and progress and track that all them are on with their constituents—the audience, cable operators, satellite operators, stations, all the various constituents. We have an enormous well of talent with all these businesses that are churning out obviously very attractive, creative product. I say “obviously” because the ratings are developing. So on that front, we’re very confident and look forward to continuing to pour the coal on that fire.

On the advertising side, business is very good on all the networks. The sports market is a little less buoyant than the entertainment side but has improved dramatically in the past month or two. Even the regional advertising side and the local advertising side have improved dramatically over the past few months.

Scatter’s been very strong for the entertainment side of the networks for a couple of months. The upfront was better than we anticipated. There was a moment when sports was soft, but early to mid-December it started ramping up and is in a pretty good place right now. It is very satisfying and very indicative of a good future trend. So we’re pretty happy with it right now.

It’s a very, very good story. We’re going to take this opportunity to continue to invest in programming, continue to invest in people, and put people in places where they’re empowered and feel like they have room to fail and to take risks, and in that process develop some really creative product for us and develop really terrific businesses as well.

Do you see a clear recovery of the ad market this year?

The ad market on the national network business never took a strong turn south. The local businesses did. The national market is very buoyant, a little more than we would have anticipated. The local market is much stronger than we anticipated from what I see on the regional side and hear from the stations.
To say that it’s a complete recovery, that depends on what happens with the general environment of business in the country and around the world. That’s a question you have to answer in hindsight rather than foresight, but we’re feeling pretty good about it right now.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...x_TWC_Deal.php

TV Sports
In Demand Provides NBA League Pass Free Preview Assist
Digital-Cable Subs Can Check Out Out-Of-Market From Jan. 18-24.
Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 1/18/2010

With the season at the halfway point, In Demand has tipped off a free preview of the NBA League Pass this week.

The free preview of the NBA's out-of-market subscription package, which this season included game replays, dual feeds, a mosaic channel, broadband access, a stats channel and HD feeds, is available to digital-cable subscribers from Jan. 18-24.

The half-season NBA League Pass package, which provides customers with up to 40 live out-of-market games per week across 10 channels, is now available for $99 or in four installments of $24.75.

Among the cable operators offering the NBA League Pass distributed by In Demand Networks this year: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox and Bright House Networks, plus a number of smaller MSOs.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/...iew_Assist.php

TV Notes
Conan Sticks to Jokes?
By Josef Adalian, in his “TV MoJo” blog at TheWrap.com, January 18, 2010

No Leno-like statement from Conan O'Brien, who instead seems to stuck to a standard monologue.

Well, if your definition of "standard" includes lots of NBC bashing. Which these days, it does.

Tonight's jokes from Coco:

Hi, I’m Conan O’Brien and I need all of you to write me a letter of recommendation.

A lot of papers are reporting that I am now legally prohibited from saying anything negative about NBC. So good night ladies and gentlemen, it's been a great show.

No, this is true—it’s been widely reported that I can’t say anything negative about the network. Luckily, they’re not saying I can’t sing anything negative about the network.

NBC has a new slogan and the slogan is “More colorful.” They may be telling the truth because they are about to get rid of the whitest guy on television.

Of course, this has been a stunning couple of days for me. It’s a bit hard to accept that soon I won’t have a show, but Snooki and The Situation will.

Last night at the Golden Globes Julia Roberts said that NBC was in the toilet. NBC was upset and toilets were furious.

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/co...ks-jokes-13160

TV Notes
Some Tuesday TV Highlights
Shania Twain on 'American Idol'
From the Los Angeles Times' Show Tracker blog

(Note: times are generally ET/PT. Live event and sports times are Pacific. For PBS show start times please check your local listings.)

SERIES

Shatner's Raw Nerve: Jason Alexander sits down with William Shatner (7 p.m. Biography).

American Idol: Auditions continue in Chicago, with Shania Twain serving as a guest judge (8 p.m. Fox).

Nova: Scientists learn how the Sphinx was carved and reveal details about the people who built it (8 p.m. PBS).

NCIS: Los Angeles: A wealthy bachelor who falls to his death from a rooftop during a party. Callen (Chris O'Donnell, Cool J, Linda Hunt, Peter Cambor and Daniela Ruah also star in this repeat (9 p.m. CBS).

Scrubs: In this new episode, a student cheats on an exam, and Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) forces the whole class to pay the price. (9 p.m. ABC).

Frontline: The episode "The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan" tells the story of the "Bacha Bereesh" -- "beardless boys" -- who are trained to sing and dance for men and then are traded for sexual favors (9 p.m. PBS).

How the Earth Was Made: This new episode explores the geological history of Mt. Everest and the Himalayas (9 p.m. History).

Better Off Ted: Ted (Jay Harrington) tries an electronic translators to get closer to a beautiful German who doesn't speak English (9:30 p.m. ABC).

Independent Lens: This new episode explores music sampling and debates about artistic expression, copyright law and money (10 p.m. PBS).

The Millionaire Matchmaker: Patti Stanger returns for a third season (10 p.m. Bravo).

Paranormal Cops: This new series focuses on a group of police officers in the Chicago area who spend their spare time checking out possible paranormal activity (10:30 p.m. A&E).

MOVIES

Inherit the Wind: Arrested for teaching Darwin's theories in the mid-1920s, an educator (Dick York) is defended by a lawyer (Spencer Tracy) and prosecuted by a politician (Fredric March) in this 1960 courtroom drama (5 p.m. TCM).

SPORTS

College basketball: Tennessee at Alabama (4 p.m. ESPN); Clemson at Georgia Tech (4 p.m. ESPN2); Purdue at Illinois (6 p.m. ESPN).
Tennis: Australian Open, second round (6 p.m. and midnight ESPN2).


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/

TV Notes
O'Brien's exit deal pushed another day
Fans rally behind host; Leno gives viewers his side of story
By Nellie Andreeva, The Hollywood Reporter, Jan 18, 2010

As a final signoff on the settlement sealing Conan O'Brien's exit from "The Tonight Show" was pushed by another day, Jay Leno on Monday gave his side of the story of NBC's late-night turmoil, and fans of O'Brien braved the rain to rally support.

All in all, O'Brien's settlement with NBC might be worth more than previously thought, up to $45 million-$50 million, when severance packages for "Tonight" staff are included. It will allow O'Brien to join another network, possibly Fox, in September.

O'Brien's successor at "Tonight," Leno, told viewers of his "The Jay Leno Show" on Monday night's show that "we might have an answer for you tomorrow" on his expected return to "Tonight."

While he had joked about NBC's late-night woes, Leno, a frequent target of a barbs from fellow comedians who blame him for pushing O'Brien out by agreeing to return to late-night, had not seriously addressed the events of the past few weeks until Monday.

He started off with the infamous 2004 decision by NBC brass to set a 2009 date for him to pass the "Tonight" baton to O'Brien despite being the late-night ratings king. He agreed to retire "just to avoid what happened the last time," referring to NBC's previous late-night shake-up when the network picked him over David Letterman.

Leno said he twice asked NBC to be released from his contract: once in 2009, when he was forced out of "Tonight" to accommodate O'Brien, and once this year, when his primetime show was canceled.

NBC turned down his request both times, first offering him a primetime show and then a half-hour show at 11:35 p.m.

He accepted both times, the first time despite the fact a 10 p.m. talk show "didn't seem like a good idea at the time" and the second time after NBC brass assured him that O'Brien would agree to the "Tonight' move to 12:05 p.m., Leno said.

Throughout his address, Leno stressed twice the fact that O'Brien relies on a team of high-powered representatives, while he doesn't have an agent and manager. He also twice lauded O'Brien, calling him a "gentleman" and "a good guy."

"I have no animosity towards him," Leno said. "This is all business. If you don't get the ratings, they take you off the air."

The 300-plus die-hard O'Brien fans who lined Lankershim Boulevard in front of Universal Studios earlier in the day were not as civil, mixing anti-Leno chants with slogans in support of O'Brien.

"Tonight" trombonist Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg drove by in glass box on the back of a truck. The culmination came when O'Brien ran down Lankershim, creating a ruckus. He later waved at the crowd from the rooftop, and his staff treated the drenched fans with free pizza.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...f93ac9b9fc563d

TV Notes
CBS' David Letterman to NBC: Where's my money?

By Meg James, Los Angeles Times staff writer, in the “Show Tracker” blog January 19, 2010

Jay Leno may have chosen a more serious road Monday night, but his main rival, CBS' David Letterman, continued to revel in NBC's chaotic late-night talk show host shuffle.

“The [Golden Globe for] best series, TV series, went to a show called ‘Mad Men.’ " Letterman quipped during his monologue. " Did you ever watch the ‘Mad Men’ show? It’s a show about NBC executives.”

"Speaking of television shows…the big CBS show here – anybody seen the ‘Medium?’ It’s about a woman who can communicate with the dead. A woman who can communicate with the dead – as a matter of fact, this Sunday, this week, Johnny Carson calls up the ‘Medium’ and he asks her, ‘What the hell is going on with ‘The Toinght Show?’”

“You know Conan O’Brien, they’re saying that he may be getting, as severance pay, $30 million to leave NBC. Thirty million dollars to leave NBC – I mean, that’s like getting a bonus to leave the Titanic.”

“A bonus of $30 million not to host ‘The Tonight Show’ – wow, I mean – I mean, wow. Thirty million dollars not to host ‘The Tonight Show,’ and I was thinking to myself and I said, ‘Now, wait a minute – I’ve not been hosting ‘The Tonight Show’ for 18 years. Where the hell’s my money? Where’s my bonus?’

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/

TV Notes
Zucker on Jay and Conan – Back then.


Jeff Zucker spoke for almost an hour with Charlie Rose -- back in May of 2008.

The talk about what the future held with Conan and Jay comes at 31:31 in.

See it here:

http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/...in-our-league-

TV Notes
For USA, a bold move beyond Fridays
No. 1 cable network begins slotting shows on other nights
By Louisa Ada Seltzer, MediaLifeMagazine.com staff writer, January 19, 2010

USA has been the top network on cable for the past two years, delivering record numbers and programming a mix of new and veteran scripted hits. So it's a bit of a surprise that, coming off a year in which its primetime audience grew 14 percent, the channel is shaking up its lineup.

In the past, USA aired many of its shows, including "Monk," "Psych" and "White Collar," on Friday nights. Starting this week, however, USA is branching out from Fridays.

"Collar" returns tonight in its new 10 p.m. Tuesday timeslot. Going forward, the network will not be airing new shows on Fridays, instead spreading them throughout the week in hopes of drawing bigger audiences on nights where more people are at home watching TV.

"Collar" was already drawing strong numbers on Friday, where it got a huge boost from airing behind the final season of "Monk" last fall.

Like most cable shows, "Collar's" season is split into two halves. The show, about a con man who is sprung from jail to help an FBI agent track down criminals, averaged 5.68 million total viewers and 2.04 million adults 18-49 during the first half of its debut season, according to Nielsen.

That ranked second among all new shows on cable last year on both counts, behind only USA's "Royal Pains."

But "Collar" will face stiffer competition on Tuesdays. Tonight it airs against CBS's "The Good Wife" and NBC's "The Jay Leno Show," which performs much better on Tuesday than Fridays.

If the show can hang on to most of its first-half audience, that should help USA in its efforts to build up more nights of original programming. If not, it can always move back to Friday in season two.

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/art...nd_Fridays.asp