Source: O'Brien's staff is sticking point in talks
LOS ANGELES—The sticking point in Conan O'Brien's complex exit negotiations with NBC involves his TV staff, not Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, a person familiar with the talks said Tuesday.
Although discussions also focused on whether NBC would keep the rights to familiar O'Brien comedy bits including Triumph, O'Brien's focus was ensuring severance deals for his "Tonight" staff and crew, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were intended to be private.
O'Brien is "dug in on that," the person said.
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So far, negotiations have yielded a proposed deal that could pay O'Brien more than $30 million for leaving NBC and "The Tonight Show," allowing Jay Leno to return to late night from his soon-to-be canceled 10 p.m. EST show.
The proposal also would allow O'Brien, who would exit "Tonight" less than a year after taking over from Leno, to start work on a competing network as early as fall. But he would be barred from making NBC the butt of jokes.
O'Brien asked to be released from his contract, which has about two-and-a-half years left, after rejecting NBC's plan to push him and "Tonight" to 12:05 a.m. EST to make way for a half-hour show with Leno at 11:35 p.m.
The network, hit by poor ratings for its prime-time experiment, "The Jay Leno Show," and for O'Brien's "Tonight," was trying to keep both comedians on board.
O'Brien has seen his viewership jump in recent days. His Monday night Nielsen Co. rating, according to preliminary figures, was up 67 percent in total viewers over the previous fourth quarter average and up 80 percent among advertiser-favored young adults.
Ratings for Leno in the same window, however, remained flat.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14220837?nclick_check=1
This is how you behave when you care about other people. Maybe Jay should follow Conan's example and try thinking about others for a change.
LOS ANGELES—The sticking point in Conan O'Brien's complex exit negotiations with NBC involves his TV staff, not Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, a person familiar with the talks said Tuesday.
Although discussions also focused on whether NBC would keep the rights to familiar O'Brien comedy bits including Triumph, O'Brien's focus was ensuring severance deals for his "Tonight" staff and crew, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were intended to be private.
O'Brien is "dug in on that," the person said.
~~~~~~~~~~~
So far, negotiations have yielded a proposed deal that could pay O'Brien more than $30 million for leaving NBC and "The Tonight Show," allowing Jay Leno to return to late night from his soon-to-be canceled 10 p.m. EST show.
The proposal also would allow O'Brien, who would exit "Tonight" less than a year after taking over from Leno, to start work on a competing network as early as fall. But he would be barred from making NBC the butt of jokes.
O'Brien asked to be released from his contract, which has about two-and-a-half years left, after rejecting NBC's plan to push him and "Tonight" to 12:05 a.m. EST to make way for a half-hour show with Leno at 11:35 p.m.
The network, hit by poor ratings for its prime-time experiment, "The Jay Leno Show," and for O'Brien's "Tonight," was trying to keep both comedians on board.
O'Brien has seen his viewership jump in recent days. His Monday night Nielsen Co. rating, according to preliminary figures, was up 67 percent in total viewers over the previous fourth quarter average and up 80 percent among advertiser-favored young adults.
Ratings for Leno in the same window, however, remained flat.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14220837?nclick_check=1
This is how you behave when you care about other people. Maybe Jay should follow Conan's example and try thinking about others for a change.
& lots of digs at NBC. I think it's great, all the jabs.
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