Jay Leno doesn't want to leave NBC's "The Tonight Show" as planned in 2009, three sources have told the Los Angeles Times.

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NBC apparently wanted to lock in Conan O'Brien -- who hosts his own show on the network -- by giving him a specific date when he could take over "Tonight," so he wouldn't go to another network while waiting for Leno to retire, the newspaper said.

Although O'Brien's current audience is smaller than Leno's, it is also younger and more desirable to advertisers. It is also on later than Leno's.

However, as the 2009 hand-over date draws closer, Leno seems reluctant to leave.

A skit last week appeared to demonstrate his feelings about the situation.

After Leno joked about the sale of NBC Universal's NBC Studios in Burbank, an actress playing a real estate agent barged onto the set.

When Leno protested the intrusion, the woman waved him off, promising a pair of potential buyers: "Don't worry about all of that. It will be moved out by the time you're moved in."

Those comments and others by unnamed sources to the Times suggest that Leno isn't ready to give up the "Tonight Show's" host desk.

"It's almost unprecedented in television for someone as successful as Jay has been to have his departure planned several years in advance," TV historian Tim Brooks told the Times.