On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 7:32 PM, M-D November <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Hopes Conan's people were smart enough to have a downside guarantee > built into his Tonight Show contract... > I am not sure what a "downside guarantee" is, but I have been trying to find out all year the details of Conan's contract. In his NYT piece, Carter writes: "Though the exact terms of Mr. O’Brien’s contract are not known, he is rumored to have built into the deal he made five years ago to stay at NBC a guarantee that he would get to host “The Tonight Show” or NBC would owe a penalty payment of as much as $45 million. If his show continues to be called “The Tonight Show,” NBC may not be in breach of his contract, which could compel Mr. O’Brien to stay at NBC even if another network makes him an offer." Which underlines the legalism in NBC's statements all day - the "Jay Leno Show" is not being cancelled, and Conan will remain the host of "The Tonight Show". If Conan really has no language in his contract regarding time (ensuring that he would host a 60 minute, 11:35 pm show called "The Tonight Show") then he is screwed - and the screwing really began last year when NBC announced the Leno experiment. At that time it was unclear how much of a threat a Leno program that aired before the Tonight Show really was to Conan - but now it looks like this decision really signaled that, if forced to choose, NBC was going with Leno. Conan has been a real good soldier and smiled all through the announcement and circus of the Leno Show, but I would not blame him at all now if he just started throwing his own shit against the Universal City walls.
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