NBC Affiliates Are Told There Are No Plans to Sell : Television:: The network’s president denies rumors, saying owner General Electric’s support remains strong.

NBC President Robert C. Wright, faced with growing criticism about the network’s performance, on Thursday denied widespread speculation that corporate parent General Electric Co. had become disenchanted with the broadcasting business and wanted to get out of it.

“GE has no plans to sell NBC,” Wright told representatives of 210 affiliate stations gathered in New York for their annual convention. “And I sincerely hope we justify GE’s faith. I can’t imagine any new owner being as willing to support us as GE has demonstrated every day of the week.”

In recent months, the television industry has been buzzing with rumors that GE’s nearly five-year ownership of NBC was about to come an unceremonious end with the sale of the network to a Hollywood studio. Paramount Communications Inc. has been suggested as the most likely buyer.

The rumors have been fueled by NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff being named chairman of Paramount Pictures and a recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to limit the television networks’ participation in the lucrative TV program production business.

But Wright asserted that GE continues to show strong support for the network. “As the business began to soften and our ratings cooled, GE gave us its checkbook and support to do what we thought was necessary to maintain our success,” Wright said.

That success will be more difficult to come by in the future. One of the network’s biggest assets, Johnny Carson, confirmed Thursday that he will host “The Tonight Show” for the last time on May 22, 1992, after more than 20 years on the air.

Wright’s remarks were apparently aimed at alleviating fears among affiliates that NBC’s management has become less concerned about the company’s traditional broadcasting business and more interested in expanding into potentially high-growth areas such as cable and pay-per-view TV.

All three networks are facing one of the worst advertising recessions in history. Revenue and profits at NBC are expected to drop this year to their lowest level since 1985. More ominously, prime-time ratings sank 13% this season after a 9% decline the year before.

The emphasis at NBC these days, as is the case with the other networks, has been finding ways to cut costs as revenue growth slows or even reverses. But affiliates have always been suspicious about how the bottom-line mentality at GE affects the more free-wheeling culture at NBC, considered necessary in running a TV network.

“The business is so tough today that all three (networks) are in a similar situation,” said Jon Kelly, whose family owns KCRA-TV in Sacramento. “The big difference is that the ABC guys are old-line professional broadcasters. The fellows at NBC and CBS are not.”

Wright maintained that NBC has spent more than $300 million to develop new shows over the past four years and “never once during that time did GE limit our program spending.” The network will spend a record $2 billion on programming alone this year, he added.

Despite that kind of spending, however, Wright said the affiliates would have to learn to get along with less. “More money isn’t the issue,” he said.

Instead, NBC is willing to become more flexible toward its 210 affiliates by offering them new sources of revenue.