Not everyone will be able to get their before-bed Jay Leno fix come September.

Boston's NBC affiliate, WHDH-TV, is opting to air an hour-long local newscast in the 10 p.m. hour instead of sticking with the network's new talk-show vehicle for Jay Leno, who will bow out as host of the Tonight Show on May 29.

"We feel we have a real opportunity with running the news at 10 p.m.," station owner Ed Ansin told the Boston Globe. "We don't think the Leno show is going to be effective in primetime," Ansin said yesterday. "It will be detrimental to our 11 o'clock. It will be very adverse to our finances."

But NBC doesn't plan to stand idly by so that Bostonians can tune into the Channel 7 news.

"WHDH's move is a flagrant violation of the terms of their contract with NBC," said NBC TV Network president John Eck. "If they persist, we will strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. We have a number of other strong options in the Boston market, including using our existing broadcast license to launch an NBC owned and operated station."

The controversial (in theory, not content) Jay Leno Show will launch in September, thereby officially ending NBC's tradition of showing scripted dramas at 10 p.m. (The tradition symbolically ends with tonight's ER finale.)

Conan O'Brien is poised to take over the Tonight Show June 1.

Boston is the seventh largest TV market in the U.S. Ansin told the Globe that WHDH's contract with NBC allows it the option of passing on Leno in favor of news.

It remains to be seen whether this will be the beginning of a nationwide revolt.

WHDH Will Air Leno At 10 p.m.
Boston affiliate's GM says he hopes show will be a "big success"
Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/13/2009 2:50:46 PM MT

NBC affiliate WHDH Boston says it will air Jay Leno's 10 p.m. weekday show when it launches this Fall.

"Upon further consideration, we have decided to telecast Jay Leno at 10:00 p.m. starting in September," said Sunbeam owner Ed Astin in a statement. "Jay is from Andover where I went to school. I enjoy his humor. We hope the new show is a big success."

"We are very pleased that WHDH will carry Jay Leno's new primetime comedy show at 10 pm this fall on NBC," said John Eck, president of NBC TV Network in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with the station on a successful launch in Boston of this show, featuring one of the most bankable stars in the business."

The station, owned by Sunbeam, had originally said it would carry a 10 pm. local newscast in lieu of the Tonight Show star's new strip.

NBC responded by threatening to pull its affiliation from WHDH and starting an O&O in the market, possibly relaunching Telemundo station WNEU as an NBC station. NBC affiliates across the country largely supported the network, though acknowledging that a local newscast would likely be more lucrative.