NBCU to Move Some Operations to Universal City
Network to Sell Major Portions of Facility in Burbank
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/11/2007 6:48:00 PM
NBC Universal said Thursday that by 2011, it will start moving some of its West Coast television operations toward the Universal side of that moniker, specifically a few steps across the street from Universal Studios in Universal City.
Confirming a story Oct. 10 by B&C's Ben Grossman, NBCU said that the move includes news bureaus and building a new theater to house The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. The late-late-night host is scheduled to drop one of the "lates" and take over for Jay Leno in 2009.
The new digs, which will anchor development around the Red Line subway station, will include space for the news bureaus of NBC, as well as NBCU-owned Los Angeles stations KNBC and KVEA and production of syndicated Access Hollywood.
The new complex will take its cue from the green feather in the NBC peacock, described as "designed to achieve the Green Building Council's standard for environmental sustainability with the latest in renewable power, energy and water-efficient technologies."
NBC will sell major portions of its 34-acre studio in Burbank, Calif., which had been the target of so many good-natured jokes by Leno's Tonight Show predecessor, Johnny Carson. But it will also keep portions and lease back others that will keep production of some shows there for "several years."
