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The honeymoon is over. A year after NBC Universal employees were greeted with gift boxes on the day the Comcast-NBCU merger became official, some of them are getting pink slips.
The latest case that has been getting a lot of attention since Nikki Finke broke the story last night, is the “downsizing” at NBC’s The Tonight Show, in which 20 staffers lost their jobs and host Jay Leno took what is being described by sources as a “tremendous” pay cut to “save as many people’s jobs as he could”.
Related: ‘The Tonight Show’ Lays Off 20 Staffers And Host Jay Leno Takes Pay Cut To Save Jobs
This is the latest in a string of layoffs and budget-trimming at NBC. Insiders say that virtually every department of the network has been affected by the wave of company-wide cost-cutting, which started in January. In February, NBC’s marketing and PR departments shed about 10 employees each in downsizing, including a 26-year veteran, EVP and creative director of marketing Jim Vescera. There have been cuts among NBC programming executives too, including the quiet departure of VP drama Lourdes Diaz a couple of months ago.
The move resembles the now infamous NBC 2.0 plan implemented by Steve Burke’s predecessor Jeff Zucker in 2006. But while NBC Universal at the time announced the cuts beforehand, setting a goal of $750 million in savings that included reducing NBC’s work force by 5%, the cost-cutting under the new Comcast leadership is being done quietly, often under the disguise of corporate restructuring.
With help from Sunday Night Football and the Super Bowl, NBC finally emerged from the bottom of the ratings last season to squeak past ABC for third place among adults 18-49. But the network continues to be a sore spot on Comcast’s balance sheet, with its ratings weakness again listed by Comcast as partially responsible for NBCUniversal’s soft financial performance during the most recent quarter.
In addition to trimming personnel and budgets of departments and existing shows, the network also is expected to spend less on development this season after forking around $40 million on scripts last year when it drove the prices up with aggressive bidding for what was described as one the wildest buying seasons in recent memory. So far, it has ordered an off-cycle pilot, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced drama The Secret Lives Of Husbands And Wives, and has handed out put pilot commitments to a Cleopatra drama produced by Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and a Rand Ravich drama. The network also is close to landing the new Michael J. Fox comedy with a major commitment.
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If Leno was sincere about wanting to protect his staff, he would’ve threatened to walk. The Tonight Show is still one of the network’s biggest profit centers, and NBC has no way to fill the 11:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. block without him at anything near the current revenue levels.
Johnny wouldn’t taken this.
More Leno bashing how original.
No, I respect Jay and realize his value to the network. Accordingly, I was not “Leno bashing” but pointing out that he has enough leverage to stop those cuts if he wants.
personally, i don’t see it as leno bashing. the fact is, leno is one of the few that can put the hammer down over there. dont see why he needs to take a cut, or have anybody fired, he could just tell our comcast boys to go fuck themselves. other shows, however may not have as much success with this plan.
He doesn’t have to take a pay cut – that is the whole point. He willingly gave up millions of dollars a year so that the layoffs would not have to be greater. My understanding, from other reports, is that the remaining layoffs, at least to some degree, were the result of employees who were giving the option of a significant pay cut but opted for layoff instead.
In the end, Jay Leno may be a important talent for NBC but he is still an employee. If Leno had threatened to walk, then his entire staff would have been out of a job.
And yes, Tvcon, the Leno bashing has gotten pretty pathetic at this point (although I will give Writer Bob the benefit of the doubt). What is most disturbing about it is the sameness of it all, as if they have been given talking points and told to go out and repeat them ad nauseum. One day people will wake up and realize that the Leno/O’Brien conflagration is really the argument of conservatism versus liberalism, with Leno and O’Brien standing in for the elephant and the donkey in the subconscious minds of some people (due to their audience appeal). That is why people are so polarized, and why the Leno bashers continue to bring it up at every opportunity, even two years later.
they would have never let him walk, obviously. we’re talking about cuts, not increases.
I am Republican and I hate Leno because he isn’t funny and watch O’Brien nightly, but O’Brien is going downhill fast too.
Sorry, Bob, but NBC Latenight loses money and has for years.
Did Johnny stand up for his staff? Genuinely curious.
Yeah, he could just ignore that pesky contract thing…
Why don’t they cut that clown Matt Lauer. He turns my stomach. Aw, who cares. I don’t watch NBC for nuthing.
Yeah, Matt could’ve taken a pay cut somewhere in that unearned 21 million
If Comcast really wants to save money, why don’t they get rid of G4. That station has never made them any money what so ever.
Solution: replace high-pay Comcast top brass, replace high-pay NBC top brass, replace high-pay hosts – like Matt – the really high-paying actors and get some good new shows on with good unknown actors to replace all those crappy reality, singing, dancing, etc. stuff, and BTW… bring back “Harry’s Law” as an example.
Great TV brings in big advertising bucks that can pay for staff & make Companies Profit; simple as that. But I guess a no-brainer is something the top brass can’t grasp. Half a brain can figure that, but with them, their half must be out looking for their other half.
If Leno left–no one would notice. Or care.
You do realize The Tonight Show is still the top late night show on TV. And it is only like that because of Jay Leno.
When they tried to replace Leno iwith Conan, the ratings practically flatlined , and they realized they made a mistake and brought Leno back and now it’s back to the way it was.
is that a joke? i think we’ve been through that before. people noticed. people cared. i don’t even watch him at all. i prefer conan, stewart and dave. but barely watch them basically because i forget. but just saying if you lie on the internet it’s still a lie
That is another common thread of these Leno bashers – they seem to be in their own reality. Never mind the fact that he is consistently number one in the ratings (even after the Leno/O’Brien debacle); that fact can be conveniently ignored since they themselves do not watch him. After all, reality is what they perceive in their particular worldview.
Its getting to the point they might have shown him the door and replaced The Tonight Show with an infomercial for frog farming…
I got a taste of the awful bitter that is Comcast back in 2006. It is one of the worst words I have ever known.
It’s because the ads don’t work. Nobody knows how to sell anything anymore. Ad agencies let the client tell them what to do instead of the other way around. Even Britney Spears couldn’t sell Coca-Cola!
Commercials DO work and there are still a few of us who know how to sell. However, ad agency leaders DO need a backbone to convince clients what’s right for them. Yet, more than backbone, they need to communicate better with their clients. Unfortunately, ad agencies need to admit not all of them ‘listen’ to their clients better. Like in marriage, to have it work you need to ‘communicate’ well. Same needs to be said for agencies, ad consultants and their clients. Like a marriage between two people, the agency, client relationship IS a marriage and if it doesn’t work you get a divorce.
Of course Britney Spears couldn’t sell Coca-Cola.
She endorses Pepsi!
Honestly, The Tonight Show lost any and all importance and cache it had when Carson left it. If Leno isn’t making NBC money, it’s time to shrink the show.
Hey, soaps are disappearing for the same reason. If it’s more expensive to produce than the profit margin dictates, time to go. Something else could replace it and even if ratings are lower, the profit will likely be larger.
Time to head into the new millennium, folks.
Wow…this is sooo cool.
Sooo cool to see COMCAST really respond to their top level investors; their exec board on how to take care of debt THEY NEVER KNEW was in NBC when they PURPOSELY CHOSE to buy it.
Cut 20 or so odd staffers…makes sense. That’s about:
* 120 k per staffer per year at the minimum.
* cut away their pension and health bennies as well,
and do it very quick…because we know all these fired
staffers are actually, IT hotshots who’ve already got
a computer virus infiltrating COMCAST global accounts, to soak
millions of dollars from various off shore bank accounts
And this will save — how many millions???
* But please…KEEP THE TOP EXECS who have a strong MBA
background in business and investment strategies, and just kinda
fiddle around with the whole creative stuff from time to time in
between their appointed rounds at the Beverly, and / or on every
other weekend. because it’s really great to just throw stuff at a
wall…hope it sticks…and you have a hit on your hands.
They need to money to buy out GE’s 49% in a few years. Comcast only owns 51% and controls NBCU. Squeeze even more
Not having Leno at the Olympics was a huge mistake by NBC.
When you buy a company you need to make the company pay you back right away. #romneysrulesoflife
They are already shooting themselves in the foot development wise. The problem is they’re second guessing every pitch that comes in which as we all can see doesn’t work. They keep saying none of the pitches are “special enough.” This is how McPherson made a mess out of ABC. Shows need to be entertaining to the audience not to the development execs who listen to pitches all day and are increasingly jaded. NBC seems really out of touch with their audience. These execs don’t seem to have a clue who they’re buying for. It’s like they’re chasing vapors. Audiences want to care, to feel and be entertained by great stories well told. NBC is trying to second guess the pitches they’re hearing. Greenblatt and Salke are overly impressed by hype. It’s a recipe for disaster. I feel sorry for their drama and half hour execs with all the pressure because they’re going to miss what’s right in front of them.
It almost seems like Comcast has decided that they can’t make NBC the best, so they will cut costs to at least make it profitable at the level it currently performs. That means making the successful shows cheaper and the less successful shows even cheaper still.
Hey Scott – I think you meant Kimmel.
How long till Comcast starts making these sort of cuts at universal
what was the ROI on the olympics? seemed way over-produced to me but that’s beside the point.
Sadly, something like this was long overdue, although there is no reason to think that the Kabletown suits will get it any better than Zuck did.
The Peacock has been in a spiral for a whil now, especially in prime time. While there are some legitimate hits with strong fan bases (think “Parks & Rec”, “Community”, even the previous incarnation of “The Office”), NBC often trips over what few successes they have. They nearly lost “Community” earlier this year, have been directionless on “The Office”, and went over a cliff on the whole Leno/Conan debacle.
So now Comcast wants some return on their investment. Yes, cleaning house is one way to go, but you don’t gut what few cash cows you might have. If Leno’s show is delivering eyeballs and consistently winning its slot, then why on earth would they be targeted? That’s presuming we think the cable operators know how to run a network – hint: they don’t.
NBC cannot hang its profits on sports and the Summer/Winter Olympics every even numbered year. That’s especially true if they repeat another collosal screw-up of the 2014 Winter Games (think opening and closing ceremonies, inane commentary, heavily edited taped broadcasts, etc.).
Kabletown needs to clean up its prime-time programming first. Otherwise, its hard to have a lead-in to one of the few shows that seems to be attracting viewers.
Yep Parks And Recreation and Community are huge hits that NBC can’t do without.. gosh imagine if they’d actually lost Community earlier in the year!
I get that these shows have rabid fan bases and do bring in a younger demo but when you’re peak Thursday night shows are struggling to get more that 3 million viewers you know you’re in trouble.
Let’s face it. In my opinion, NBC really has been in serious decline since Brandon Tartikoff left.
Leno knows better than to give NBC/U an ultimatum they’d surely take him up on.
“Gosh,Jay, if that’s how you really feel about it. It was nice working with you. Let us know where you end up. We hear TBS is looking for a strong 10pm lead-in for Conan.”
Honeymoon is over for Bob Greenblatt and the mediocre group of executives he has assembled. 40 million dollars in development? With nothing to show? That alone should be grounds for firing. When will these big networks wake up and start hiring people who know what they are doing, understand the business because hey’vedone it before and stop thinking development staffs should be filled with 25 year olds who have no understanding of story and structure.
And the blood letting begins, it’ll take years to fix this mess. I’m sure there’s plenty of sweating going on over in the news division.
Spend less on development? Isn’t that how they got into the mess they’re in? No development, no new hits to bring up revenue.
They spent $40 million on new pilot scripts last year. A huge waste of money. What did they get for this enormous investment?
They had some great scripts. GREAT SCRIPTS just not the taste or guts to pick the right ones to make into pilots. People were shocked by their poor pilot choices and even worse pick up choices. Their pride won’t let them go back and take a second look at the scripts they left on the floor.
Bob and Jen are simply pathetic.
Strange that NBC is getting the new Michael J. Fox show. They should go to ABC which treated SPIN CITY very well even though it wasn’t a gargantuan hit, but it did well. Put it on Wednesday nights along with Modern Family, Happy Endings and Bitch.
Where did the cuts come from? Were they spread out between tech, sales, producers? NBC does have layers of fat at some locations. The network level is no longer than cash cow but parts of the cable division are. I would not be surprised in the next few months to hear that they are going to trim at 30 Rock even more. We know NBC Sports is already going to Stamford.
I am not a fan of Leno but there is nothing he could have done most likely to save these jobs. Late night is not what it use to watching old tonight show clips really show you how great the shows once were.
Not to be a cynic, BUT the pay cut (if real) that Leno took probably went more to saving his job than anyone elses.
Also, twenty people is a lot to let go. Even spread out I cannot help but feel the Tonight Show is going to feel the pain and some loss of quality as a result.
Sadly this is another sign of the broadcast nets getting closer to abandoning the affiliate system and becoming cable networks whereby more layoffs, consolidations and redistributions of resources will occur.
Just my opinion.
I wonder how all those sitcoms NBC promoted during the Olympics will do ??