Producer admits Letterman extortion

AAP

A TV producer has pleaded guilty to trying to shake down talk show host David Letterman over the comic's sexual affairs.

Robert "Joe" Halderman entered his guilty plea to attempted grand larceny on Tuesday in a Manhattan court.

He was charged last year with demanding $US2 million to keep quiet about Letterman's love life. The case spurred the late-night TV icon to tell viewers he'd had affairs with women on his staff.

Halderman's lawyers initially said he was just offering to sell Letterman a thinly veiled screenplay about the comedian's life.

Halderman works for the same network as Letterman, CBS, as a producer for 48 Hours Mystery, a show that reports indepth on real-life crime.