It's done:
Conan officially leaving NBC
Other shorts: ABC passes on Koppel return to host 'This Week'
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jan 21, 2010
It's done: Conan officially leaving NBC
Two days before his rumored final show, it's finally official: Conan O'Brien is leaving NBC. The comedian signed an exit deal with the network in the wee hours of the morning, ending two weeks of turmoil that began when NBC canceled "The Jay Leno Show" at the behest of angry affiliates. O'Brien has secured a payout worth roughly $30 million, according to reports, and he has guaranteed severance payments for his staff that are reportedly higher than the average NBC buyout. That had been the sticking point the past week, after O'Brien refused NBC's initial offer to move "The Tonight Show" to 12:05 a.m. to make way for a half-hour version of "Leno" after the local news. In the days since, "Tonight's" ratings have shot up as O'Brien's monologues became increasingly biting, taking shot after shot at the network, like this zinger from last night: "Over the past week, ratings for the ‘Tonight Show’ are up by 50 percent. When NBC executives heard this they told me, ‘See, you really don’t fit in around here.’" But the jabs may be done. Part of the exit deal prevents O'Brien from bad-mouthing the network after he leaves, and with only two nights left and public sentiment seemingly on his side, as well as $30 million, O'Brien could choose to curtail his harsh criticism. One comedian who'll probably continue harping on the drama is David Letterman, whose show O'Brien has been crushing in the adults 18-49 demographic over the past two weeks. Letterman has been mercilessly mocking Leno, who will regain "Tonight" in March. Last night Leno fired back on his primetime show, saying, "You know the best way to get Letterman to ignore you? Marry him. He will not bother you. He won’t look you in the eye."
ABC passes on Koppel return to host 'This Week'
Jay Leno may be returning to his old spot, but it looks like Ted Koppel won't be rejoining his old network. Following weeks of rumors that Koppel, the former "Nightline" host who exited four and a half years ago, would be succeeding George Stephanopoulos as anchor of ABC's "This Week," the network reportedly has walked away from the discussions, angered after word of them leaked out to the media. There were other stumbling points, too. Koppel wanted to bring along his longtime producer, Tom Bettag, but ABC wants to keep current producer Ian Cameron in the job. That means "Nightline's" Terry Moran and White House correspondent Jake Tapper, who have been filling in for Stephanopoulos since he left earlier this month, are once again the frontrunners for the job. Though "This Week" has lagged NBC's "Meet the Press" in the ratings for years, the ABC program has crept closer over recent months, after David Gregory took over for the late Tim Russert. "Week" is averaging 2.77 million viewers this season.
Report: More than half watch Super Bowl for the ads
Nearly 99 million U.S. viewers tuned into last year’s Super Bowl, and apparently about 50 million of them enjoyed the ads more than the actual game. Fifty-one percent say they enjoy the commercials that air throughout the game when compared to the Super Bowl game itself, according to a survey by Nielsen, while 49 percent say they enjoy the game more. When it comes to ad effectiveness during the Super Bowl, advertisers' best bet is to pay the necessary premium to place their ads in the first quarter of the game. Nielsen says that general ad recall is at 69 percent for first-quarter Super Bowl ads, compared to 67 percent for the second quarter, 65 percent for the third quarter and 58 percent for the fourth quarter. Similarly, ad likability during the first quarter is at 40 percent, compared to 34 percent in the second quarter, 31 percent in the third and 25 percent in the fourth. In terms of actual ads, Anheuser-Busch is far and away the top advertiser, while motion pictures are the top category. For the five Super Bowls between 2005 and 2009, A-B’s Bud Light spent the most on Super Bowl ads, $59.1 million, followed by another A-B brand, Budweiser, at $42.4 million. Movies led all ad categories during that period with $117.4 million spent on Super Bowl ads, followed closely by beer advertisers at $114.2 million.
Nineteen more networks sign on for telethon
One of the most devastating natural disasters in recent memory has spawned one of the most expansive telethons ever. “Hope for Haiti Now,” a telethon to help victims of last week’s earthquake in Haiti, will be the most widely distributed telethon in history, with PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, E!, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, Centric, Current, Fuse, MLB Network, Epix, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health and Planet Green recently added to the list of networks who will carry the event. They join previously announced networks ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, CW, HBO, HBO Latino, MTV, VH1, and CMT for the event, which will air tomorrow at 8 p.m. The telethon, airing on a total of 31 TV networks, will also be streamed live online on YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, MTV.com, VH1.com, and Rhapsody. A number of performers have agreed to participate, including Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, and Sting in New York; Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift in Los Angeles; and Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna in London. Musical performances from the telethon will be available for 99 cents per song on iTunes beginning on Jan. 23.
FCC: Cable can't block local sports channels
In a move that's already making some cable carriers sweat, the Federal Communications Commission has voted to bar cable operators from withholding local sports channels from their foes, most notably the satellite and telephone companies that have been getting into TV distribution. In practice, a loophole allowed cable carriers like Comcast to prevent DirecTV and Dish Network from airing Philadelphia Flyers games in the Philly area, where the games air on Comcast SportsNet. That's because Comcast distributes the games via land-based equipment, not satellite. The change will most likely face a court challenge, as exclusive local sports content is a major advantage for cable companies over their satellite counterparts.
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