NBC late-night executive shuffle; Paul Telegdy replaces chief

Rick Ludwin, the NBC executive who oversaw two of the biggest seismic shifts in late-night television, is stepping down.

NBC announced Thursday that it had promoted Paul Telegdy -- a former BBC America executive who nurtured NBC's biggest hit of the year, "The Voice" -- to the newly created position of president of alternative and late-night programming. 

The move continues NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt's dramatic management shake-up of the peacock network since joining the company in January.

“Paul is an exemplary executive who has tremendous creative vision in the area of unscripted programming, which makes him perfect for this expanded role,” Greenblatt said in a statement. He credited Telegdy with the continued ratings success of such unscripted programs as "The Voice,"  "America’s Got Talent," "The Biggest Loser"  and "Celebrity Apprentice."

Ludwin, who has been an NBC executive for 31 years, will transition from his current position overseeing late night to becoming a consultant for NBC. 

Ludwin was running the late-night block in 1993 when NBC picked Jay Leno over David Letterman to become host of the storied "The Tonight Show" when Johnny Carson retired. It was a monumental shift that divided the network's executives because many backed Letterman (who defected to CBS).

Ultimately, the move paid off.

Two of the more recent late-night switches have proved more treacherous. Conan O'Brien's tenure succeeding Leno as host of "The Tonight Show" lasted just seven months. Leno moved to an ill-fated 10 p.m. variety show that also bombed, and NBC pulled him back to late night to lift the sagging ratings there, prompting O'Brien to leave the network. Leno's contract with NBC extends another two years.

There has been one sunny spot. NBC's late-night host Jimmy Fallon has scored high marks with critics and viewers.

"I couldn't have asked for or imagined a more rewarding job than the one I've had at NBC,” Ludwin said in the NBC statement. “To have been a part of TV history with ‘Seinfeld,’ our late-night franchises, ‘Saturday Night Live’ and with all our producers, writers and talent has been unbelievable. Since I was a kid it was a dream of mine to work at NBC. I got to do it and continue to be grateful."

Before joining NBC, Telegdy, 40, was executive vice president of sales, content and production for BBC Worldwide America. While working at BBC Productions in Los Angeles, he helped develop "Dancing with the Stars," which has become one of television's biggest hits.

He graduated with honors from the University of London with a degree in Korean and Japanese.

-- Meg James

Photo of Paul Telegdy / Credit:  NBC

The Morning Fix: Steven Tyler to scream for 'American Idol'! Spyglass chiefs near deal to run MGM. HBO might add an X.

After the coffee. Before readjusting to heat and humidity.

Walk this way! Looks like Steven Tyler, the lead singer for Aerosmith (they were a big band in the 1970s and then made Alicia Silverstone's career, for you kids who don't know), has sealed his deal to be a judge on Fox's "American Idol" next season. The show, which lost Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres, still has to find at least one more judge and talks with Jennifer Lopez have hit a standstill. Although "American Idol" has definitely lost some power over the last few years, it remains the most-watched television show in the industry and a cash cow. One trusts that even if ratings take a bigger than usual slide without Cowell, the cost savings from his exit will balance out with any advertising decline. In other words, hope Fox and the producers, 19 Entertainment and Fremantle, are not breaking the bank on unproven judges who happen to have once been big names. The latest from Ted Casablanca and Taryn Rider at E! Online.

Spyglass brass gets closer to taking reigns of MGM. Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, the chiefs of Spyglass Entertainment, are putting the final touches on a deal to run the troubled MGM studio. Earlier this week, MGM's debtors and Barber and Birnbaum reached an agreement that would have the two Spyglass toppers take over a shrunken MGM. Details from the Los Angeles Times and Variety.

But I already saw "Boogie Nights." HBO is working on a series about the adult entertainment business. Makes sense -- after all, they already have porn star Sasha Grey on the payroll for "Entourage" and maybe she's up for double duty. The show is from Dirk Diggler himself -- Mark Wahlberg. He's already in bed with HBO, as his production company makes "Entourage" and "How to Make It in America" for the pay cable channel. Just to make sure everyone knows it's a fictional show, author James Frey has been tapped to write the pilot. More from the New York Post.

Stop calling me Shirley! This week, "Vampires Suck," the latest spoof movie of a popular genre opened, but are these joke flicks getting tired? The Hollywood Reporter looks at whether "Vampires Suck" will draw blood at the box office.

Location, location, location. Facebook has unveiled its location service, which will allow its users to let people know where they are at. Of course, most Facebook users already take glee in telling their friends when they are at the gym, hiking, on vacation or just sitting around in the backyard. I've never quite understood why one would never put a sign on their door saying, "going away, feel free to ran shackle" yet people have no problem telling Facebook where they are at all times. What, none of my friends are thieves? I'm not taking that chance. Oh, and there will be the usual griping from privacy advocates about what Facebook is doing; although I'm as pro-privacy as anyone, if you truly want privacy, don't put your life online. Oh, and if you are curious, Thursday morning's roundup is being done from a Starbucks on Broadway and 103rd Street. Details on Facebook's latest move from the Wall Street Journal.

"Business Report" sold. "Nightly Business Report, a stable of public broadcasting that for years has been owned and produced by WPBT-TV, a public television station in Miami, has been sold to a private company. According to the New York Times, Mykalai Kontilai, who distributes television programs and used to manage mixed martial artists, has acquired the show. No terms were disclosed. The show, which is over 3 decades old, will continue to be produced out of WPBT. 

Guess Betty White wasn't available. Chelsea Handler, host of E!'s late-night talk show "Chelsea Lately," will be the host of MTV's Music Video Awards, which return to Los Angeles next month. Handler, best known for her love of vodka and single men, is something of an unusual choice for the show. Get ready for lots of Snooki jokes. More on Chelsea's big gig from MTV News.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: John Horn on the odds of a big win for "Lottery Ticket." Why "The Switch" isn't a chick flick. 

-- Joe Flint

What? You mean you don't follow me on Twitter: Twitter.com/JBFlint

The Morning Fix: Google is coming for your TV! CBS has passage to India. BermanBraun rakes in some new dollars. Morty's back in late night.

After the coffee. Before yet another flight to New York. And in August no less.

Google is coming! Google is coming! Search giant Google is getting serious about its small-screen aspirations. The company has been meeting with broadcast and cable networks to try to get access to their content for its new Google TV application that will allow consumers to watch TV through the Web. Of course content providers want to make sure they a) get paid for their programming and b) don't alienate the cable and satellite distributors who already carry their channels. Google's real aim to is to get more ad dollars and leave Apple's television aspirations in the dust. More on Google's big push and what the challenges will be from the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal.

What's a million dollars between friends? Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. made headlines this week for its $1-million donation to the Republican Governors Assn. This, of course, gave fuel to the left to take shots at Murdoch's Fox News operation. Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz, who also works for Fox News rival CNN, followed up on Tuesday's story on this from Politico. A News Corp. spokesman told Kurtz that it is "patently false" that a donation by News Corp. would somehow influence coverage at Fox News. By the way, lots of media companies give money to political causes. The New York Times also weighed in with a article on Rupert's largess. 

Really, it'll happen. Variety checks on Disney's deal to sell Miramax to Ron Tutor, the big-shot construction guy (sorry, I'm tired of saying "construction magnate") and says that although the pact was announced weeks ago, the financing is still not nailed down. The deadline to close is Sept. 7, and odds seem long that it will be met. Of course, Disney could extend it or go back on the market and see if Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein want to make one more run. 

A passage to India. CBS and India's Reliance Broadcast Network Limited announced early Wednesday morning their plans to launch a joint venture that will create three English-language television channels. The networks, which will launch later this year, will feature both current CBS content and library fare as well. CBS becomes the latest U.S. media company to try to build a presence in India. Here's an early take from the Hollywood Reporter and an old story about the talks from the Wall Street Journal, just to bring you up to speed.

Morty's back. Veteran producer Robert "Morty" Morton is coming back to late night as the show runner for TBS' "Lopez Tonight." Morton was the longtime executive producer for David Letterman. The move comes as Lopez prepares for his show to relocate to midnight to make room for Conan O'Brien. Details from Broadcasting & Cable. 

Read at your own risk. The Wrap says it has come across an e-mail with details of what is in development at Paramount Pictures. Among the projects are a Will Smith movie from director Kathryn Bigelow and a comedy starring Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand. Paramount told the Wrap that some of the material in the e-mail is right and some it is wrong.

Digital dollars. BermanBraun, the entertainment company headed by former TV big shots Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun, has roped in $100 million in advertising commitments from Starcom, a big agency whose clients include Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart. The money is for BermanBraun's digital operations, including its websites Wonderwall and Glo. The New York Times, which always seems to have the inside scoop on these guys, has the story, as does the Wall Street Journal blog All Things D. They can flip a coin to decide which one was fed this first. 

Turner on a roll. "Rizzoli & Isles," the female detective drama featuring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, is the latest hit for TNT. Although it has hardly been a critical smash, it is drawing big audiences and proves that there is a big appetite for what Ad Age calls "meat and potatoes"-type programming. Variety also weighs in on a piece about cable's hot summer.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Dr. Laura says goodbye to radio. Just because the star leaves, that doesn't mean the show can't go on. Haim Saban buys Julius the Monkey.

-- Joe Flint

Follow me on Twitter. I've been known to tweet from airplanes. Twitter.com/JBFlint

Winter Olympics, Conan O'Brien settlement put a drag on NBC Universal earnings

NBC Universal is relieved that its winter financial wipeout is finally over.

Parent company General Electric Co. on Friday released its first-quarter results, which included, as expected, substantial losses generated by NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Although GE posted a 32% drop in earnings, the company nonetheless beat analysts' expectations.

GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt said there were signs the economy was improving, along with the industrial giant's profit margins -- except for a couple of problem divisions.

"NBC, because of the Olympics, was a drag on margins overall," Immelt said.  

NBC Universal's operating profit of $199 million was down 49% compared with the first quarter of 2009. Revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter was up 23% compared with the year-earlier period, but it was about flat when ad sales for the Olympics were excluded from the results.

GE executives warned investors several months ago that it would lose as much as $250 million on its coverage of the Vancouver Games -- but it did not turn out as bad as first feared. NBC ended up losing $223 million on the Olympics, GE said. 

"In the end, the sales were better," explained GE Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin. Ratings were 14% higher than for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The television network took in about $800 million in revenue related to the Olympics in February, Sherin said. But that wasn't enough to cover the $820 million that NBC paid the International Olympics Committee for the TV rights, let alone the enormous costs of production and a workforce to broadcast the 17 days of events.

And then there was the Conan O'Brien effect.

Sherin donned his own comic hat, telling Wall Street analysts: "You might have missed this, but we did a lot of shuffling of the lineup in the first quarter. You may not realize it, but we are reprogramming at 10 p.m." 

NBC's late-night squeeze play -- canceling Jay Leno's failed prime-time show, moving him back to 11:35 p.m. and bumping O'Brien out of his coveted "Tonight Show" time slot -- was costly.  GE did not break out the amount shelled out to get rid of O'Brien (although sources have said NBC paid $32 million to O'Brien and an additional $15 million in severance for show executives and crew members). GE did include the peacock's fiasco as a negative in NBC's results, titled: "Conan O'Brien departure and settlement."

Since canceling Leno's prime-time show in February, ratings at 10 p.m. have been up 45%. And, Sherin said, "Jay Leno is back in late night and he regained his No. 1 position." 

NBC's Los Angeles-based movie studio, Universal Pictures, continued to deal with duds. "Box-office results for movies did fall short of our expectations," Sherin said, but he said that was partially offset by scaled-back spending on movie marketing. DVD sales were encouraging, with Universal selling 5 million units, led by the comedy "Couples Retreat."

On the upside, the television advertising market continues to show signs of recovery. Local television ad sales were up 15% in the first quarter, Sherin said, and some NBC network and cable channel ad sales were up as much as 20% over ad rates that were established last summer. That's a hopeful indicator as NBC Universal heads into the all-important advertising sales season next month.

Cable television once again was NBC Universal's top performer. USA, Bravo and Syfy had strong results, and Oxygen turned in its best ratings ever. Profit at financial news network CNBC was up 7%, and MSNBC "had a few milestones," Sherin said. MSNBC, he said, beat CNN in prime time for the quarter. 

Overall, General Electric generated first-quarter net income of $1.87 billion, or 17 cents a share, compared with $2.75 billion, or 26 cents, for the year-earlier period. Revenue was down 5% to $36.6 billion.

"In media we have a negative, but we think our worst quarter is behind us," Immelt said. "We should see growth at NBC U for the remainder of the year."

-- Meg James

Photo of Jeffrey Immelt by Jonathan Fickies / Bloomberg News

Conan will have ownership of his TBS show

One of the perceived snags of Conan O'Brien going to cable was that he wouldn't get the same kind of big paycheck that he'd gotten at NBC and would probably command from Fox.

But as part of his deal with Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting to host a late-night show on TBS, O'Brien will have ownership of the show. That will give him the potential to make a lot more money than if he were just a hired hand hosting a show owned by a network. O'Brien's deal is for five years.

A deal between O'Brien's camp and TBS was struck in about 72 hours, according to people involved in the talks. TBS had previously indicated it was not interested in O'Brien, but Turner Entertainment chief Steve Koonin said in an interview that was in part because "we assumed he had a deal with Fox."

Koonin reached out to O'Brien's team and then went back to his own late-night host, George Lopez, who was also enthusiastic about the idea of bringing Conan to TBS. O'Brien will have his show at 11 p.m. and Lopez will move to midnight. Though Lopez will have a later time period, he will probably also have a bigger lead-in audience.

With its deal to have Conan O'Brien anchor its late-night line-up, TBS finally seems poised to step out of the shadow of its sexier younger sister TNT. TBS has always been a cash cow for Time Warner but is still primarily known for its reruns of broadcast sitcoms such as "Family Guy" and "The Office."

"We think Conan will of course help us attract other talent," Koonin said.

Fox, meanwhile, has not issued any statement about the O'Brien deal. Interestingly, the network is set to meet with its affiliates at the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, where the idea of O'Brien coming to Fox was expected to be a topic of discussion.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Conan O'Brien in his office at Universal Studios last year. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Conan O'Brien going to TBS in a return to late night

Conan O'Brien is going to cable.

The former host of NBC's "Tonight Show," who lost the program to Jay Leno earlier this year, has signed a deal for a new late-night program on TBS, the basic cable network owned by Time Warner. O'Brien's show will start in November at 11 p.m. George Lopez, the comedian who currently occupies that slot, will have his show move to midnight.

"In three months, I've gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I'm headed to basic cable. My plan is working perfectly," O'Brien said in a statement.

The deal with TBS is sure to catch many by surprise. Most industry observers expected O'Brien to land at Fox. While Fox's top entertainment executives Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly were on board with going after O'Brien, persuading Fox's affiliates to carry the show was going to be more challenging. That's because those stations make a lot of money from the reruns they currently run at 11 p.m. This was also an issue for the stations owned by Fox itself.

The talks with TBS heated up in the last two weeks. As recently as a month ago, Turner executives had indicated they had little interest in going after O'Brien. Lopez has given them some solid numbers with younger viewers and is a contrast to Comedy Central's late-night duo of Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.

But in the last few weeks, Turner's entertainment chief Steve Koonin changed his mind and started negotiating with O'Brien to come to the cable channel. O'Brien was game but did not want to go without Lopez being on board with the idea.

Turner executives huddled with Lopez and Warner Bros.' Telepictures Productions, which makes the show, and got the go-ahead.

"I can't think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in," Lopez said. "It's the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy."

-- Joe Flint

Related:

Conan will have ownership of his TBS show

Rupert Murdoch needs to be convinced Conan O'Brien can make money for Fox

News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said it's up to Fox Broadcasting to make a case that a late-night show hosted by Conan O'Brien can make money.

"We’re giving it a lot of thought and a lot of examination,” Murdoch said when asked during a conference call on the company's second quarter earnings about the prospect of Fox doing a deal with O'Brien to host a late-night show for the network. O'Brien walked away from his job as host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" last month after the network told him it wanted to move the show from 11:35 p.m. to after midnight to make room for Jay Leno's return to late night from prime time.

Murdoch said the programmers at Fox Broadcasting -- Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly need to "show us we can do it and be fairly confident of making a profit." Murdoch's remarks echoed those that News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey and Fox Television Stations boss Roger Ailes made to Company Town last month about the prospects of O'Brien being signed to a deal.

The issue for Fox is getting time in late night from its affiliate stations to carry O'Brien. The Fox affiliates and the Fox-owned TV stations carry reruns of sitcoms in that hour that make them a lot of money. "I’m sure we’d have difficult renegotiations," Murdoch said of trying to get the go-ahead from affiliates to put O'Brien on the air.

The mogul said that although there have been some conversations with O'Brien's camp, there have been no "real negotiations."

--  Joe Flint

Related Post: News Corp.'s Chase Carey and Roger Ailes need to see the numbers before signing off on O'Brien.

Photo: News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch. Credit: Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images.

NBC's Jeff Gaspin on emotions and late-night TV

LAS VEGAS -- NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin said he had not counted on the emotional factor when trying to restructure NBC's prime-time and late-night lineups by moving Jay Leno back to 11:30 p.m. and bumping Conan O'Brien to 12:05 a.m.

"I underestimated the emotional impact it would have on Conan," Gaspin said at the National Assn. of Television Program Executives conference in Las Vegas this morning. Gaspin said he thought O'Brien would go along with the plan.

"My goal was to keep both of them," Gaspin said in an interview session here. Interestingly, while Gaspin's boss, NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker, has often said he gave Leno a prime-time show because it would be cheaper than programming dramas, Gaspin said stopping Leno from going to ABC was "the primary focus."

Despite the beating the network has been taking in the press, Gaspin said he doesn't think either NBC or  Leno are tarnished. "Jay will go back ... the audience will start to come back," he said. 

While General Electric Co. chief executive Jeff Immelt recently said NBC would lose $250 million on the Olympics, Gaspin said the Games will be a "cleansing moment" for the network. After the games, the network will have its new 10 p.m. lineup in place and its new -- well old and new -- late night.

Asked by Broadcasting & Cable editor Ben Grossman if NBC's decisions to go back to dramas at 10 p.m., Leno at 11:35  and other moves the network had made recently was a sign that NBC was losing its nerve when it came to risks, Gaspin cracked, "It takes a lot of nerve to do some of the things we just did."

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Jeff Gaspin. Credit: Mitchell Haaseth / NBC

Wrangling over compensation for Conan O'Brien's "Tonight Show" staff heats up

Maybe Conan O'Brien won't be leaving NBC as soon as we thought.

Negotiations over his severance package have become bogged down over O'Brien's demands that NBC also compensate staff members on his show who will soon be out of work. About 190 people work on "The Tonight Show," including about 60 to 70 employees who moved to Los Angeles from New York early last year. NBC paid to relocate about 40 to 50 of those people, with the rest coming to L.A. on their own.

"We are fighting hard to get as much as possible to these people who are going to be out of work," Gavin Polone, O'Brien's manager, said in a e-mail this afternoon.

NBC is sensitive to the fact that its late-night shuffle will put people out of jobs and bristled over  suggestions that the network, owned by General Electric Co., was being insensitive to the plight of employees who will join the masses of unemployed workers in the midst of a recession that has hammered the entertainment industry.

"It was Conan's decision to leave NBC that resulted in nearly 200 of his staffers being out of work. We have already agreed to pay millions of dollars to compensate every one of them. This latest posturing is nothing more than a PR ploy," NBC said in a statement.

Not so, said Polone. "It is not a ploy or a strategy. Conan's first priority is and always has been to take care of the employees of the show. He paid them out of his own pocket during the strike when NBC laid them off. I think that shows his commitment better than a missive from an unnamed NBC executive."

NBC is expected to spend more than $40 million in severance packages to the show's workers. O'Brien's share of that amount is about $30 million, according to people close to the negotiations.

-- Meg James

Photo of Gavin Polone (2004) by Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Conan O'Brien settlement negotiations continue

While the main issues with Conan O'Brien have been sorted out, lawyers have spent the last two days haggling with NBC over severance packages for staff members of "The Tonight Show." About 190 people will lose their jobs when O'Brien signs off for the last time as host of the legendary program.

O'Brien's final night on "The Tonight Show" is expected to be Friday. As part of his negotiations, the 46-year-old comedian has demanded that the network compensate many of his staff members, according to people close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. About 40 to 50 people moved to Los Angeles from New York last year to work on the show when O'Brien relocated coasts. Another 15 to 20 came on their own.

An announcement of a settlement had been expected by now, but it looks like the messy O'Brien-NBC divorce won't be finalized until tomorrow -- at the earliest, according to people who are close to the talks.

The overall amount that NBC will have to pay will be about $40 million, according to two people. But a third knowledgeable person expects that the total tab will likely run to slightly above $50 million by the time NBC finishes writing all the severance checks.

-- Meg James

Photo Credit:  NBC/Paul Drinkwater