Low ratings are the reason for both. NTV decided to replace Conan's old (and many years running timeslot) with a sports program to help the network stay afloat. Conan was moved to Saturdays because of that.
Specials are becoming very, very rare because to run specials over the usual time, you need to have advertising funds. If they aren't there for the 30 minute version, they aren't gonna be there for the 1-hour version.
