14 DAY TRIAL // Even before Conan O’Brien was officially done with NBC and The Tonight Show, one persistent rumor said that he would be relocating to Fox once his contract was terminated. Word of this re-emerged a while back but nothing came of it, but that could be because the network is not done with preparations for having Conan on air, TMZ writes, citing very reliable inside sources.
Fox is putting pressure on its affiliates as we speak to have Conan on air from 11 at night to midnight, a decision to which many of them are reticent because they’re not certain Coco has what it takes to bring in audiences. They believe that going with reruns of guaranteed hit series is a far wiser financial decision, says TMZ, and are set not to give in to Fox’s pressuring them to replace them with O’Brien’s upcoming show.
“Fox execs have been in touch with several affiliates, ‘applying pressure’ to put Conan O’Brien on the air between 11 and midnight... sources tell TMZ. It’s the clearest sign so far that Conan is going to Fox. Our sources say Fox execs and Conan’s reps have been ‘seriously talking,’ though no deal has been made,” TMZ says. Clearly, the celebrity gossip website believes this to be the closest thing fans have of a confirmation that, as soon as possible, O’Brien is moving to Fox.
“Some of the Fox affiliates have been resistant to running a Conan show, because they’d make more money with the current schedule of sitcom reruns such as ‘The Office.’ Several execs at the affiliate stations are saying they have felt the pressure from Fox honchos to take O’Brien’s show. And we’ve learned execs at several major Fox affiliates are saying a deal is ‘imminent’,” TMZ further writes.
The only thing that could hold back the announcement of the deal is the fact that O’Brien is still tied by contract to NBC: when he was replaced as host of The Tonight Show, he got $32 million from the network, which barred him from getting another show for eight months. Legally, O’Brien can launch a new show with other network, but his paycheck is deducted from the money he gets from NBC.