NBC is announcing firm plans to close down some or all of its Burbank studio and to move operations to a new facility that will be built over on Lankershim across from Universal Studios. Apparently, the traffic over there on Lankershim is not quite impossible enough. It's still possible to get through there once in a while and they need to stop that.
The story also says that when Conan O'Brien takes over The Tonight Show in 2009, he will broadcast from a studio on the Universal lot. I think this is the first time they've admitted what everyone has presumed since the handover was announced; that Conan would not do the show from New York.
Looming over and under all of this, of course, is the question of what becomes of Jay Leno. He's lately begun doing jokes about NBC throwing away the one thing on their network (him) that's working well. There are rumors he's dickering with Fox about a competing late night show that might even start at 11:00, giving him a jump on Conan and Dave at 11:35. I suspect the rumors come from no source whatsoever; that everyone's just assuming that there are or will be discussions with Fox.
Because his ratings are still strong, Leno is in one of the best bargaining positions in the history of show business. He's like a star pitcher who has his best season ever just as he's becoming a free agent and can entertain all offers. The question is what, apart from the job he's been doing for the last umpteen years, the guy might crave. Once upon a time, NBC was in the awkward position with Mr. Letterman that they were desperate to keep him but unable to offer him the one thing in the world he wanted, which was The Tonight Show. It may be that the network is now in the same position with Mr. Leno. And just how embarrassing would it be for the network if Jay went over to Fox and did a show that beat Conan?