NEW NIGHTS FOR THREE NBC DRAMAS

NBC, in a three-show shuffle, is shifting its durable, Emmy-honored “Hill Street Blues” to Tuesdays opposite ABC’s powerhouse “Moonlighting.”

“Hill Street,” now in its seventh season, will move Dec. 2 along with “L.A. Law” and “Crime Story.” The network believes the two rookie shows will have a better chance on other nights to develop audiences.

The anticipated triple shift was announced Wednesday by NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff after he appeared in Laguna Niguel, Calif., to address executives from NBC’s 200-plus affiliated stations.

“L.A. Law,” now on Fridays, will air in the 10 p.m. Thursday slot formerly held by “Hill Street Blues,” effective Dec. 4. That period follows NBC’s quartet of hit comedies led by “The Cosby Show.”

“Crime Story,” currently NBC’s lowest-rated entertainment series in its current Tuesday night spot opposite “Moonlighting,” will move Dec. 5 to Fridays. There, it will take over the 10 p.m. slot vacated by “L.A. Law” and follow “Miami Vice.”

NEW YORK--As the start of companywide job cuts begin at NBC, 10 staff members at WNBC-TV here have been told they are being laid off, officials said Wednesday.

NBC spokesmen and the company’s new president Robert Wright have repeatedly said that whatever cuts are made throughout NBC and its division will not be anywhere as large as those of ABC and CBS in recent months.

One NBC source said overall job cuts will probably total “in the low hundreds.” CBS, in contrast, has eliminated about 1,700 jobs since July, 1985, although it employs nearly twice as many persons--16,000--as NBC on a worldwide basis.

NBC’s cuts, like those of CBS and ABC, are part of an effort to make the company more efficient. NBC’s effort was part of a plan begun by Grant Tinker before he stepped down in September as the company’s board chairman.

In Burbank, John Rohrbeck, vice president and general manager of KNBC-TV, said in a prepared statement that KNBC is also “now in the process of some layoffs.” He gave no details, other than to say the layoffs would not be as extensive as those that have hit KCBS-TV and KABC-TV in recent months.