Amid plummeting ratings and the likely spinoff of NBCUniversal’s cable assets, MSNBC’s biggest name is going to be a little lighter in the pockets.
According to a report that emerged Thursday, Rachel Maddow has supposedly renegotiated her contract to pay her $5 million less a year.
The Daily Beast noted that her deal was netting her $30 million, but that she would now be taking home $25 million.
Sources at the network said that the report, which initially emerged in Hollywood business Substack newsletter The Ankler, were “not accurate.”
However, the source didn’t provide another figure to the Daily Beast.
The move comes as Nielsen data show that MSNBC’s ratings are 40 percent of what they were last year in the wake of Donald Trump’s electoral victory.
While the Daily Beast said “execs are counting on viewers to come back the way they did in 2016 once Trump’s administration gets underway,” NBCUniversal parent company Comcast is looking to unload its cable assets, which have dragged on its share price.
Furthermore, as The Ankler noted: “Viewership is in revolt and two of MSNBC’s iconic faces, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, are accused of destroying their anti-Trump cred by traveling to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the president-elect.”
This makes things tricky for MSNBC, which needs to cut costs but also keep its biggest star in the fold.
“This is a difficult time and they needed to keep her. No one else can do what she does. You can’t build a brand like it overnight,” one executive told The Ankler.
Another called her “ratings Viagra” and said she would be used as a “special weapon” on other programs besides her Monday night show, particularly when dealing with breaking stories.
However, part of the problem is that that the network has become so slanted that it’s turned into the “only safe space for a liberal TV audience,” one MSNBC insider said, and the network was having issues with integrating conservative voices into the fold.
“We were so Harris propaganda that when she lost, viewers were shocked,” an on-air pundit, who remained anonymous, told The Ankler.
“It turned into one giant circle j*** and echo chamber. If MSNBC wants to be of service to its viewers, they can’t keep them in fantasy land.”
However, one producer said that it was unsure how it was going to deal with what they called a “‘Star Wars’ freak show” of Trump’s appointees.
“I don’t know if having these people on would put any useful information out,” they said.
Nevertheless, with that attitude, only expect things to get worse. After all, Maddow is taking a pay cut because the network’s faithful are tuning out, things are going to be even worse for lesser-name talent.
