Mass Communication and Public Relations Professor Christopher Cakebread says NBC is upset about Boston station WHDH-TV deciding not to carry the new Jay Leno show at 10 p.m., in lieu of local news, because the network fears the move may spread.

“NBC’s greatest concern is the domino effect that might occur if WHDH replaces Leno at 10 p.m. with a local news program.  If the seventh largest market in the country can make this change, in order to provide a better local revenue stream, what’s to stop other affiliates across the U.S. from doing the same thing?

“This will completely torpedo NBC’s plan to abandon expensive scripted programming, during primetime, five days a week, so they can save production dollars by running a less-expensive-to-produce talk show.  The stakes are very  high, so NBC will go all out to convince WHDH to not make this change.”

Contact Christopher Cakebread, 617-353-3476, ccakebre@bu.edu