Less than a week after it was announced that NBC was axing the 3rd hour of its morning “Today” show, which is hosted by Tamron Hall and Al Roker, to make room for the incoming Megyn Kelly (who left her station at Fox News), it’s been announced this afternoon that Hall will be leaving NBC and MSNBC, the network’s news division has made public.
“Tamron is an exceptional journalist, we valued and enjoyed her work at ‘Today’ and MSNBC and hoped that she would decide to stay,” NBC News said in a statement. “We are disappointed that she has chosen to leave, but we wish her all the best.”
Her last day on both networks was yesterday, Tuesday.
As part of a multi-year agreement Megyn Kelly inked with NBC last month, Kelly will host her own daytime news program, as well as anchor a Sunday evening news show, and also take part in special political programming and other breaking news coverage.
This obviously meant that there would be a lineup shakeup to accommodate Kelly at NBC – notably the daytime hour.
The “Today” programming block is a total of 4 hours; the first two hours are anchored by Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie; Al Roker and Tamron Hall co-host the third hour (“Today’s Take”); while Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford co-host the fourth and final hour.
Last week, it was reported that programming Kelly’s new daytime show into NBC’s morning schedule would result in Al Roker and Tamron Hall’s “Today’s Take” hour – which airs from 9am to 10am – being canceled, starting in the fall of this year. Sources said Kelly’s show timeslot was still being decided by NBC, but it was expected that she would take over either the “Today” show 9am or 10am hour; if it ended up being the 10am hour, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, who currently host the 10 am hour, would move to 9 am.
Kelly’s new show will not fall under the “Today” show banner, but will instead be Kelly-branded daytime program.
But no matter which hour Kelly’s show gets slotted in, Roker and Hall would no longer be hosting any hour of “Today.” At the time of last week’s report, it was said that neither of them was leaving the “Today” show or NBC. Roker will continue his weatherman duties during the first 2 hours, while Hall would be used in some other capacity that was to be determined. Although Hall’s contract with NBC was reportedly on its tail-end, and NBC was negotiating with her reps. In short, NBC wanted her to stay, and she wanted to stay, but it all depended on how the negotiations went. She also hosts a show on MSNBC by the way, which airs weekdays. But with today’s news, she won’t be hosting that anymore either. She’s gone from NBC (broadcast and cable) completely.
NBC coughed up some big dollars to draw Kelly from Fox News, where she was making a reported $10 million to $12 million a year. Now at NBC, she’ll be earning between $15 million and $20 million annually, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. So they obviously want to get their money’s worth. By comparison, Matt Lauer is paid over $25 million a year. Both Roker and Hall are said to have been earning less – in the single-digit millions, with Hall in the lower singles.
“The last ten years have been beyond anything I could have imagined, and I’m grateful,” Hall said in a statement. “I’m also very excited about the next chapter. To all my great colleagues, I will miss you and I will be rooting for you.”
Where Hall could end up next is a mystery; Melissa Harris-Perry, who left MSNBC last year, eventually became Elle.com’s editor-at-large.
In addition to Megyn Kelly, NBC’s news division also poached Greta Van Susteren from Fox News, giving her the daily 6 P.M. ET timeslot on MSNBC, hosting a show of her own titled “For the Record with Greta,” which launched on January 9, 2017.
Roker will continue to host the 9am hour of “Today,” although solo, until the reshuffling of NBC’s morning lineup is complete by the fall.
Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images
