Legal Newswire Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Conan O’Brien’

BURBANK, CA – With the latest shakeup at NBC over Jay Leno being restored to his old time slot at 11:35 pm, Conan O’Brien is refusing to perform The Tonight Show at 12:05 am. This begs the question as to what the legal ramifications will be.

Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien

It looks like NBC will get a boost in ratings with Jay back in his old time slot, but what about Conan? The blog, THR, Esq. has provided a viewpoint for each side – read the case for Conan O’Brien, and read the case for NBC. Even Reuters has an online analysis of the Jay Leno – Conan O’Brien – NBC case so it looks like there is no shortage of legal opinions on the topic.

The case for Conan has an argument that a jury would interpret his contract in light of his expectation that The Tonight Show would stay at 11:35 – which is entirely reasonable – especially in light of the fact that Conan agreed to wait five years in addition to giving up a huge payday from another network just to wait for the NBC 11:35 time slot to open up.

On the other hand, the case for NBC is counting on its contract language – which means “If the deal doesn’t say ‘The Tonight Show must air at 11:35′, then NBC is free to put the show wherever it darn well pleases.”

The problem with Conan O’Brien’s contract with NBC is that it doesn’t specify a time slot for The Tonight Show. Conan should be upset with his lawyers for that. In David Letterman’s case on his legendary move to CBS, his contract did specify a time slot, which is a big difference in the current situation.

What is your opinion?