NBC may cut hours of network television

NBC may curtail the number of hours - or even nights in the week - of networked programming it offers, it was revealed today.

In a keynote speech at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker questioned whether his network could "continue to broadcast 22 hours in primetime" when some of its broadcast competitors do not do so. He even suggested that NBC may cease offering network programming on an entire night of the week, most likely by returning Saturday nights to local stations.

"All of those questions are on the table, and we are actively looking at all these options," he said.

NBC Universal is currently in the middle of a cost-cutting drive designed to save $500m next year. Last week, the company made 500 people redundant.

Overall, all broadcast networks have lost ratings ground year-on-year, but NBC has suffered a whopping 14% fall in its viewership numbers so far this season.

"We have not had a good fall at NBC," Zucker told The Hollywood Reporter. Although he continues to support programming duo Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, several key programming executives are no longer with the network after the repeated failure of primetime series including Knight Rider and Lipstick Jungle.

After eschewing the traditional expensive pilot process in the wake of the WGA writers' strike, Zucker revealed the number of pilots for the 2009-10 season would be significantly higher.

> Full coverage of NBC's midseason schedule