Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992 TAG: 9201300011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICK Du BROW LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LETTERMAN SAYS HE'S OPEN TO OFFERS
David Letterman, who will mark the 10th anniversary of his late-night NBC show Feb. 6, says that he will consider moving to ABC or elsewhere when his current contract runs out.Letterman, who was passed over as Johnny Carson's heir to host NBC's "The Tonight Show" - which will go to Jay Leno in May - said that his contract had "at least" another year to go. Asked Monday if he would consider moving to ABC, which reportedly has been interested in him, he told the Los Angeles Times in a phone interview from New York:
"Sure, depending on what happens when the contract is over. You'd want to consider any other opportunity. You'd be silly not to see what they brought you in terms of job offers."
Letterman acknowledged that he had been in touch with two prominent show business figures about his affairs, attorney Jake Bloom and agent Michael Ovitz, who is widely regarded as the most powerful man in Hollywood.
According to Letterman, he has "about three months before the expiration of the contract to give them [NBC] first opportunity to negotiate."
The 44-year-old comedian, who has often used his show to zing General Electric - which bought NBC in 1986 - acknowledged that some of his problems resulted from differences with GE, including financial matters. But he said that his relationship with the network "is better now than it was.
"The only fact I really know is that I have a contract that runs for at least another year, and that's the only fact of anything," he said.
Letterman said that his problems with GE - which has also taken on-air shots from Carson - began "not long after [the conglomerate] took over the network." Money, he said, seemed to be "the most important thing" to GE.
"They can run their company any way that they want," he said, "but it sort of infringed on us. Before, the network let us alone. Then we got into some situations under GE that never came up before [with the network]."
The situations, he said, included "some facility considerations, budget considerations, personnel situations. Everything became a fight." He said that differences involving the facilities of his NBC studio - which he declined to specify - lasted for "a month and a half" and "drove me up a wall."
"I still like the work," Letterman said, "but on the other hand, you could argue that 10 years at 12:30 is enough and maybe you turn it over to a younger person. I think you have to consider that at 44, do you have to have a show that comes on after midnight?"
So he's open?
"Something like that," he said.