MediaPost
While some station groups have taken a let’s-not-jump-to-conclusions approach to NBC’s Jay Leno gamble, a top executive at Gray Television was far less circumspect Monday. Saying the new 10 p.m. show is hurting late news ratings, he suggested that NBC rethink its options.
“The Leno experiment is not working so far,” said Bob Prather, Gray’s president-COO. “I’m sure they’ll stick with it longer than they need to … their ego won’t let them probably get rid of it soon enough.”
Prather did say he had no specifics on any revenue impact the show may be having at Gray’s 10 NBC stations, but that it has dragged down late-news ratings and “in the long run it could hurt us” significantly.
He said Gray is monitoring the situation and will make its feelings known to NBC.
Gray’s NBC affiliates are in mid- and small-size markets, such as Omaha; Madison, Wis.; South Bend; and Huntington, West Va. More…