Jay Leno to keep his chin up on NBC till 2009

MUMBAI: US broadcast network NBC has signed on talk show host Jay Leno for a further four years. Leno hosts The Tonight Show. The earlier contract signed in 2001 was set to expire in 2005. In India the show airs on the weekend on c.

Reports indicate that the deal is worth over $20 million a year. A report in The New York Times inidcates that Leno took over as host in 1992.

The deal still falls short of what CBS pays David Letterman. who is Leno’s arch rival. Letterman gets around $31 million a year. Leno was said to be making about $16 million a year under his previous deal.

Another report in AP stated that while The Tonight Show dominates the ratings Letterman’s The Late Show has won more Emmy awards and received more critical acclaim.