David Letterman Renews CBS Contract Until 2010

David Letterman, who sometimes sends signals that he's bored with his job as host of THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, has signed a new contract with CBS to remain as host until at least the fall of 2010. With the spat of new programs out about that time, Letterman may be in an excellent position for a further pay increase by using leverage at that time. Reportedly, Letterman will be receiving $35 million a year, $10 million more than that of his NBC rival, Jay Leno. Dave Chappelle actually had the largest known contract at $50 million a year with COMEDY CENTRAL, that included DVD royalties, but walked away from the deal for some sort of unclear personal reasons.

Letterman will be running against Conan O'Brien who takes over THE TONIGHT SHOW for some time when Leno retires. Letterman has warmly encouraged O'Brien, but is still cool to Leno, after NBC executives passed Letterman over as TONIGHT SHOW host when Johnny Carson retired. Letterman was the personal choice of Carson, and Carson continued to quietly help Letterman out at CBS with jokes and advice. While the likable Conan O'Brien has a smaller but strong devoted audience than Leno, the late night ratings leader by a narrow margin over Letterman, it will be interesting to see whether O'Brien can maintain most of Leno's audience strength or lose many viewers to Letterman. Conan O'Brien was surprisingly good as host of the Emmy Awards this year, proving that he is far better talent and showman than many realize. Conan cannot be counted out to not maintain a sizable audience of loyal late night viewers. And with the strength of the best of the current TONIGHT SHOW writers and his own writers, may well prove to to be a major late night draw for viewers. And ABC's Jimmy Kimmel is beginning to gain some audience strength as well. The late night ratings war of the future is beginning to take shape. But it will likely be a more friendly competition than today's icy relationship between Leno and Letterman, with Letterman still reportedly unhappy at NBC executives for passing him over as the heir -apparent for Johnny Carson.