January 12, 2010 Fox Woos O’Brien, but Pact Is a Hurdle By BILL CARTER NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/business/media/12conan.html?pagewanted=print PASADENA, Calif. — The dance between the Fox network and NBC’s disaffected late-night host, Conan O’Brien, got livelier Monday when Kevin Reilly, the president of Fox Entertainment, spelled out in some detail how interested Fox would be in starting a late-night show starring Mr. O’Brien — provided he found a way to extricate himself from his NBC contract. That could prove to be a difficult extraction, at least as some senior NBC executives see it. Despite the fact that Mr. O’Brien is being ejected from the 11:35 p.m. time period he was given in June and pushed to after midnight to make room for Jay Leno, NBC executives are expressing confidence that the network has not breached Mr. O’Brien’s contract. The reason? The contract, NBC is arguing, guaranteed Mr. O’Brien would be installed as host of “The Tonight Show” — and unlike many other deals for late-night stars, Mr. O’Brien’s contract contains no specific language about the time period the show would occupy, NBC executives said. NBC has said Mr. O’Brien’s relocated show would be called “The Tonight Show.” The contractual terms could affect Fox’s pursuit of Mr. O’Brien in several ways. Mr. Reilly acknowledged that even if Mr. O’Brien found a home at Fox, NBC could insist that it had the right to keep Mr. O’Brien from starting a show for an extended period of time — as long as a year or more. Mr. O’Brien’s side has a different interpretation of whether NBC’s actions constitute a breach; but both sides predicted that the issue would not end up in a legal battle. “Nobody has the stomach for that,” said a senior NBC executive, who asked not to be identified because of the unsettled contractual situation. Mr. Reilly said that he could not speak to any of the contractual issues that Mr. O’Brien may face. He said it was up to Mr. O’Brien to “make the decision about his future.” That would surely mean accepting some financial loss, Mr. Reilly said, because any deal with Fox would not approach what Mr. O’Brien would still be owed under the terms of his NBC deal. How much that is may itself be the subject of some dispute. The senior NBC executive said that Mr. O’Brien would no longer be owed any of the $45 million that NBC had agreed to pay him as a penalty in case he never got a chance to host “The Tonight Show.” That would leave the cost for NBC as whatever amount was agreed to as a settlement of the contract. The NBC executive said that Mr. O’Brien was making considerably less than the $20 million a year previously reported and put the figure at “closer to $10 million a year than $20 million.” Mr. Reilly said that Fox had spoken only briefly about the issue with Mr. O’Brien’s representatives at the William Morris Endeavor agency, and that was mostly “about commiserating” over Mr. O’Brien’s situation. (Mr. Reilly himself knows about being elbowed aside by NBC. Soon after signing a contract with that network in 2007, he was replaced as president of entertainment.) But Mr. Reilly strongly endorsed Mr. O’Brien. “He would be a very compatible fit for our brand,” he said. “He is one of the few guys on the planet that has demonstrated he can do one of these shows every night.” He added that building a successful late-night franchise, especially from scratch, “is probably the hardest form in show business.” Mr. Reilly disputed the notion that Mr. O’Brien’s reputation might have suffered from NBC’s apparent conclusion that his ratings on “The Tonight Show” were unimpressive. “I don’t think he is damaged goods in the least,” Mr. Reilly said. “I think his show is working.” Several NBC executives suggested Fox might be more interested in tweaking NBC than seriously pursuing Mr. O’Brien, citing the costs of starting a late-night franchise — which the NBC executive estimated at $70 million — and issues the network might have with getting its local affiliates to give up lucrative syndicated programs, like reruns of “Seinfeld,” to make room. Mr. Reilly said the cost estimate sounded correct and acknowledged the affiliate question might be a thorny one. He confirmed that Fox retained the right in its affiliation agreements to start a late-night show and have all its stations carry it. “But the affiliates are just coming through a very challenging business cycle,” he said. “They have gotten hit very hard by the recession so we’re not going to be cavalier about this in the least.” -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
