SO LONG, JAY, CALIFORNIA

NBC confirms a longrumored switch in its late-night programming, replacing Jay Leno at the “Tonight” show with Jimmy Fallon, and moving the iconic franchise back to New York City in 2014.

NEW YORK — NBC on Wednesday announced its long-rumored switch in late night, replacing Jay Leno at the “Tonight” show with Jimmy Fallon and moving the iconic franchise back to New York.

Fallon will take over in about a year, the switch coinciding with NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage next year. Veteran “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels also will take over as executive producer of “Tonight.”

NBC made no announcement on who would replace Fallon at the 12:35 a.m. “Late Night” slot, although Seth Meyers of “Saturday Night Live” is considered a strong candidate.

Steve Burke, chief executive officer of NBC Universal, said the network is purposefully making the move when Leno is still at the top of the ratings, just as when Leno replaced Johnny Carson at “Tonight” in 1992.

“Jimmy Fallon is a unique talent and this is his time,” Burke said.

Leno, in a statement, of- fered his congratulations to Fallon.

“I hope you’re as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you’re the old guy,” he said. “If you need me, I’ll be at the garage.”

Fallon said: “I’m really excited to host a show that starts today instead of tomorrow.”

NBC has been quietly building a new studio for Fallon at its Rockefeller Center headquarters. “Tonight” began in New York in the 1950s, but Carson moved it to California in 1972.

Starting next year, Fallon, Letterman, Jon Stew- art and Stephen Colbert will tape late-night shows in New York.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and TNT’s Conan O’Brien will be the top Californiabased shows.

“The ‘ Tonight’ show will bring even more jobs and economic activity to our city, and we couldn’t be happier that one of New York’s own is bringing the show back to where it started, and where it belongs,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

New York state recently added a tax credit in its budget that seemed de- signed specifically to benefit NBC’s move East with “Tonight.”

The network late-night shows f ind themselves with much more competi- tion now with cable programs like “Adult Swim,” smaller talk shows hosted by the Comedy Central duo of Stewart and Colbert and Chelsea Handler.