Rumors are swirling that Ann Curry is leaving “TODAY.” She served as the news anchor on the show from March 1997 until last June then moved into the co-anchor position after Meredith Vieira left.
But, ratings are down. “TODAY” once had 780,000 more viewers than “Good Morning America” but in the last year, that has disintegrated to a mere 13,000 viewers in May 2012. It returned to a 332,000 viewer lead during the first week of June, but it seems as if the damage has been done.
And, what happens when ratings are down? All eyes turn to the new anchor. Sounds a bit like the whole Katie Curic (who left “TODAY” to host the “CBS Evening News”) thing, huh?
The 55-year-old Curry currently makes $10 million a year and has two years left on her three-year contract. TMZ is reporting that Curry and NBC are in negotiations to buy out her contract. Rumors are that she has hired attorney Robert Barnett to represent her. Seems that she wants the full $20 million to complete her contract while NBC is balking and only wants to pay $10 million to get rid of her.
Sources at NBC say that Curry will be out before July 27th when the NBC Olympic coverage starts.
What will Curry do if she is ousted as the co-anchor? It is rumored that she may serve as a foreign correspondent for NBC News.
Who will replace Curry? Sources say that NBC contacted Vieira, who said “Thanks, but no thanks.” It seems as if Hoda Kotb is set to fill her shoes if she and NBC can come to an agreement, although others think Savannah Guthrie, co-host of the third hour, may be the one to replace Curry.
This won’t be NBC’s first big payoff. Back in 2010, it paid Conan O’Brien $45 million to remove him from “The Tonight Show” after only 146 episodes in order to bring back Jay Leno.