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On Tuesday, long-time anchor Brian Williams introduced he would depart NBC and MSNBC on the finish of the yr earlier than his contract expires.
“This is the end of a chapter and the beginning of another,” Williams stated in his assertion. “There are many things I want to do, and I’ll pop up again somewhere.”
Williams, 62, is right that he’ll have choices. Williams’ reps have already had discussions with a number of networks.
According to Emily Smith of the New York Post, media sources say ABC has reached out for an unknown function. Though ABC strikes me as an odd match.
Because Disney doesn’t personal a cable information community, It’d seemingly need to put Williams on ABC’s linear community, the place actual property is proscribed. Moreover, ABC already employs two high-profile anchors with David Muir and George Stephanopoulos, a duo that has battled up to now. Adding Williams to the combo would solely agitate Stephanopoulos’ thin-skinned extra.
Unless Williams have been to signal on for certainly one of Disney’s streaming providers, corresponding to Hulu or ABC News Live. And Williams may discover Hulu interesting. I think Hulu will add unique information/speak packages within the coming years. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had publicly campaigned for Disney to position him on Hulu to launch a new late-night program.
The different vacation spot to look at is CNN. Williams’ big-time legal professional, Bob Barnett, held talks with Jeff Zucker earlier than Williams made the choice to depart MSNBC. The community’s upcoming streaming service, CNN+, will play a essential function in its dad or mum firm WarnerMedia’s merger with Discovery Inc.
Zucker has daring hopes for CNN+. He already supplied Rachel Maddow $20 million a yr to entrance the community on-air. Maddow declined the supply and re-signed with MSNBC till 2024.
Williams would seemingly have a signature function on CNN+, maybe with a lax time slot and schedule. Williams reportedly grew uninterested in internet hosting a weekday program at 11 pm ET.
In principle, CNN may additionally discover a tv presence for Williams, if he views leaving TV totally as a deal-breaker. However, it wouldn’t be a vital function on a roster subsequent to Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer, and Anderson Cooper.
Streaming providers like AppleTV+ may take into account Williams as nicely. This fall, Apple stepped midway into unique information programming, teaming up with Jon Stewart to launch The Problem.
So on no account is Williams’ profession over. Yet, his days of creating famous person cash seemingly are. Williams made $10 million yearly at MSNBC. It’s laborious to fathom a community lining up at that value at this stage of Brian Williams’ profession. Then once more, it takes just one sucker.
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