On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Mark Jeffries <[email protected]>wrote:
> One big difference between Jay and Dave: Dave owns 100% of his show and > 100% of "The Late Late Show," just like Carson did after 1980 with > "Tonight" and, of course, part of Letterman. NBC still owns at least half > of the show (the copyright is in the name of NBC Studios, not Big Dog > Productions or a dummy corporation). So Jay has less control over his > show than NBC. > > In fact, only one other late-night host has 100% ownership of his/her > show: Conan. NBC has partial ownership of Fallon and Carson the Tool, ABC > owns part of Kimmel (the "An ABC Studios Production" credit runs in the > opening titles, just like all of the prime time shows they own), Comedy > Central owns all of "TDS" and part of Colbert and E! owns part of Chelsea. > Probably one reason that even though Leno beats Dave in the ratings, Dave beats Leno at the bank. Celebrity Networth estimates that Dave is worth $400M, while Leno is worth $150M, despite Leno's major income stream from stand-up, which Dave does not have ( see: http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/celeb/tv-personality/david-letterman-net-worth/and http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/celeb/journalist/jay-leno-net-worth/ ). Dave is said to make millions still from Raymond reruns, and from the Craig show. Dave also co-owns Rahal-Letterman Racing, though I don't know how much of a money-making proposition that is. It may be more of a labor of love, though Rahal himself presumably is in it to make money, so maybe it is profitable. While late night may not be as profitable as it once was, I think it still is a significant profit center for the networks. The most interesting part of that Finke article is the point that the cutbacks at Tonight are not a result of a downturn in ratings or revenues, but of Cabletown putting the squeeze on every part of its operation to suck up as much profit as it can. Would be nice to know what is happening to NBC News' budget. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
