NBC Universal rolled out a cannon to shoot down a rebel Boston television station that says it will not carry Jay Leno at 10 p.m. when the comedian's show shifts to prime time in the fall.
The media giant said Friday that it would yank all of its NBC programming from Boston's WHDH-TV if the station carried out its threat to ditch Leno -- who grew up outside Boston -- and instead run a local news broadcast at 10.
NBC took its tough stance to head off a rebellion among local affiliates that are worried that Leno's show might draw lower ratings than the shows it would replace, leaving fewer people to watch their 11 p.m. local newscasts.
"This speaks to how much angst there is among the station affiliates who wonder whether NBC is making the right move, and what that move will do to their late newscasts," said Steve Ridge, president of the media strategy group for the consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates.
The Boston TV party began boiling Thursday when Ed Ansin, owner of WHDH, told the Boston Globe newspaper that his station would run local news at 10 because Leno would be "detrimental to our 11 o'clock newscast" and "detrimental to our finances."
Ansin did not return calls Friday.
For its part, NBC Universal said its affiliation agreement with WHDH forbids the station from cherry-picking shows. "WHDH's move is a flagrant violation of the terms of their contract with NBC," NBC Network President John Eck said in a statement. "If they persist, we will strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation."
NBC on Friday said it had other options in Boston to distribute its programming. The company also owns a Telemundo Spanish-language station and could run NBC programming on it.
Another NBC executive said the company received calls Friday from other Boston stations expressing interest in assuming the NBC affiliation.
"Make no mistake, the new Leno show will air at 10 p.m. weeknights in the Boston market on NBC," Eck said.
Losing a strong station in a Top 10 market would be dicey for the network, further dragging down its prime-time ratings.
That's the last thing NBC needs because it has been stuck in the ratings cellar for four seasons.
Moving Leno to prime time was a solution crafted by NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker to keep Leno from defecting to ABC, and to prop up the peacock's sagging schedule with lower-cost programming.
