If Scott D. Pierce had to bet on if this was going to happen, he’d bet yes - but not necessarily in the immediate future.
That is at least within the realm of possibility, because the Powers That Be at NBC are — as has been widely reported — discussing the possibility of giving the last hour of prime time back to local affiliates. Under this purported proposal, NBC’s programming would end at 9 p.m. each night. • Prime-time programming is expensive. NBC would save a ton of money by producing less of it.
• Airing “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” at 10 p.m. MT and “Late Night with Seth Myers” at 11 p.m. MT would be good for the ratings of those two shows. Entertainment Weekly declared that move No. 1 on its list of “TV’s 50 Biggest Bombs Ever,” which was hyperbolic — but, given the damage it did to both NBC’s schedule and its affiliates’ newscasts, arguably accurate.
And NBC’s big plan to make its streaming service, Peacock, its major focus haven’t gone well. The advertising-supported streamer had 13 million paid subscribers at the end of March, and that number didn’t change at all by the end of June. NBCUniversal execs claim it rose to 15 million by the end of September — after heavy discounting .