NBC on Tuesday attempted to shoot down a report originated by online
gossip Matt Drudge that it was close to offering Katie Couric a new
multiyear contract valued at nearly $100 million.
An NBC spokesperson
maintained that no deal was imminent but said that it expected to
complete one with Couric before the show’s 50th anniversary on Jan. 14.
Her current contract, worth an estimated $10 million a year, expires in
May. (When the New York Post received word from a source that the
Couric deal would be worth $65 million over five years, it asked Couric
herself about the price tag. “Sadly,” she replied, “it’s not true.”)
In
his report on Tuesday, Drudge quoted an unnamed “top insider” as saying,
“We know [Couric] will be snapped up by CBS in the blink of an eye if
she is not kept happy here.”
If so, she would presumably join another
ex-Today host, Bryant Gumbel, who has been singularly
unsuccessful in boosting CBS’s morning ratings.
