A few months ago, NBC announced that they were keeping Jay Leno and moving the show to 10p. Well now the NBC affiliate in Leno’s hometown of Boston, WHDH told NBC thanks, but no thanks. Instead WHDH has decided to air an hour of news instead of Leno.
Well let’s just say that NBC isn’t that happy about their plans according to the Boston Herald.
“WHDH’s move is a flagrant violation of the terms of their contract with NBC,†said John Eck, president of the NBC TV Network. “If they persist, we will strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. We have a number of other strong options in the Boston market, including using our existing broadcast license to launch an NBC-owned and operated station.â€Â
Rick Cotton, NBC Universal’s general counsel, said “it is clear that WHDH is contractually required to air NBC programming as scheduled by the network.â€Â
That is messed up of NBC. They have been pretty much putting on crappy programming for the last few years and they have dropped to 4th place in the overall ratings for the TV season. So it is no surprise that the NBC affiliates aren’t happy with the fact they moved Leno, who averages a much smaller audience than most of the shows that currently air in the 10p slot, into primetime. Affiliates need strong programming at 10p to lead into their newscasts where they make money in advertising and I really don’t Leno can do that. While Leno did great at 11:35p, 10p is a whole different ballgame that I doubt he will be able to have the same effect in. I respect WHDH for taking a stand against something that is probably going to hurt them big time.
