"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno will move to a 10 p.m. ET slot on General Electric's NBC-TV programming unit, according to published reports.The move to cut away from scripted TV shows an hour earlier will both preserve the marquee comedian's place at the Peacock network and eliminate costly programming.
"Can we continue to program 22 hours of prime time? Three of our competitors don't," NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker said Monday at an industry conference, according to a published report.
NBC recently cut 500 jobs as part of efforts to trim $500 million from NBC Universal's 2009 budget.
Conan O'Brien will take over the "Tonight Show" in 2009 as previously planned, while other networks have been circling around Leno in attempt to catch a big star in the TV firmament.
Leno will face off against a battery of 10 p.m. dramas. CBS's "CSI: Miami" has averaged about 15 million viewers this fall, compared to 4.8 million viewers for Leno's 11:30 p.m. talk show as the top show in the post prime-time slot.
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