Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, is planning to seize on the writers' strike to eliminate what he sees as extravagances in the way Hollywood makes and promotes television.

NBC and other companies have already used the strike to terminate millions of dollars of long-term production contracts. Mr Zucker is planning to go further by cutting enduring features of the television business, including the pilot season, in which networks develop programmes, and the splashy "upfront" presentations in which they tout them to advertisers.