New pact for Leno?

The New York Times is reporting that NBC is expected to announce today that it has signed its late-night star Jay Leno to a new contract that will keep him at the network. Reportedly he will get the 10 p.m. time period each weeknight for a show similar to NBC's "Tonight Show," where he has been since 1993. Five years ago, NBC announced that it would give the job of host of the late-night show to Conan O'Brien in May 2010. Since then the network has maneuvered to try to keep Leno at NBC in some capacity. . . . In other NBC news, a terrible fall season is forcing the network to consider scaling back the number of hours it airs programming, Chief Executive Jeff Zucker told an investor conference yesterday. While NBC will continue to fund the creation of pilots, Zucker said the network is considering cutting the number of hours or even the number of nights it provides programming. Last week the company laid off 500 employees, about 3 percent of its workforce of 15,000. (The New York Times, AP)

Madonna won a court battle yesterday against a British tabloid that published pictures recently of her wedding eight years ago. Madonna, who says the pictures were stolen from her by an interior designer in California, is seeking damages in excess of $7.5 million from the publishers of the Mail on Sunday. (AP)

Heath Ledger's family paid tribute to the late actor as they accepted a top Australian film award on his behalf. Ledger was posthumously given the Australian Film Institute's international award for best actor for his role in "The Dark Knight." His father, Kim; mother, Sally; and sister Kate accepted the award. (AP)

"I think I'm going to get him a pitbull. We just got to keep it street." - Jamie Foxx, joking that he plans to help Barack Obama pick out a puppy