NBC - LATE NIGHT HIT HARD BY STRIKE

LATE NIGHT HIT HARD BY STRIKE

The audience for NBC's The Tonight Show With Jay Leno has dropped 17 percent since the show began airing reruns following the strike, while the audience for CBS's Late Night With David Letterman has dropped 8 percent, according to figures from Nielsen Research cited by Bloomberg News on Thursday. (Figures posted in the Hollywood Reporter unaccountably cited percentages that were twice as high.) Word of the plunging ratings, which affect the two networks' most lucrative programs (each program reportedly accounts for more than $100 million annually in network revenue) comes as trade reports have begun speculating that all of the late-night shows could return to the air live as early as Dec. 3 or Dec. 10 without scripted monologues. Daily Variety, citing several network execs with knowledge of the situation, reported today (Friday) that behind-the-scenes talks are continuing and have resulted in the networks and production companies continuing to pay the salaries of the non-writing staffs of the shows.

16/11/2007