MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow ‘takes $5m pay cut’ as ratings tank after Joe Scarborough’s Mar-a-Lago meeting and Trump’s win

According to reports, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow will receive a $5 million pay cut as the network’s viewership continues to decline.

The announcement coincided with Comcast, the parent company of NBC, announcing that it would separate MSNBC and CNBC from NBCNews in order to form a new spin-off firm with a number of other cable networks controlled by Comcast.

According to The Ankler, Maddow, 51, is now paid $30 million annually by the network; but, following renegotiations, her new deal will pay $25 million annually for the next five years.

One executive told the newspaper, “They needed to keep her, and this is a difficult time.”

“She does something that no one else can. It takes time to develop a brand like that.

Maddow is the most renowned news anchor on MSNBC, having joined the network in 2008 and spearheaded its coverage of election night.

Maddow will still host her Monday night show and create documentaries and podcasts as part of her new deal.

A request for comment from MSNBC was not immediately answered.

‘FANTASY LAND’

Since Donald Trump won the presidency on November 5, MSNBC executives have seen the network’s ratings fall precipitously.

The loss of Vice President Kamala Harris has been difficult for MSNBC executives to accept, according to one insider, who described the network as a “safe space for liberal TV audience.”

One on-air commentator told The Ankler, “We were so Harris propaganda that when she lost, viewers were shocked.”

“It became a single, enormous echo chamber and circle jerk. MSNBC cannot keep its audience in fantasy land if it hopes to serve them.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, longtime Morning Joe co-hosts, announced Monday that they visited Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, to meet with the president-elect.

Brzezinski remarked, “Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different,”

“And that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump but also talking with him.”

Others in the network had conflicting opinions about the sit-down, CNN reported.

But Brzezinski stepped up her and Scarborough’s efforts to meet with Trump, the incoming president.

“The backlash has caught me off guard. In an interview with The Daily Beast, she stated, “And from my perspective, people are really afraid.”

She claimed that the fact that “people are really scared about Donald Trump’s comments that, you know, political adversaries” is one of the reasons the Morning Joe co-anchors met with Trump.

“The events surrounding abortion have frightened many individuals.

“These are all issues that are important to me and in some ways personal to me, but definitely personal to the people I really care about.”

Brzezinski stated on Monday’s Morning Joe that they had decided to “restart communications” with the president-elect after not having a face-to-face conversation since March 2020.

NBC NETWORK OVERHAUL

The media behemoth Comcast said it would cut off some of its cable channels as it looks for new ways to increase the number of people watching its news networks.

Channels including MSNBC, CNBC, USA, E!, Syfy, Oxygen, and the Golf Channel will all be part of Comcast’s new network.

The new network would also incorporate digital media assets such as Sports Engine, GolfNow, Rotten Tomatoes, and Fandango.

Comcast CEO Mike Cavanagh stated, “This deal puts SpinCo and NBCUniversal in a position to play offensive in a changing media landscape.”

“Taken together, the entirety of NBCUniversal will be on a new growth trajectory, fueled by our world-class content, technology, IP, properties and talent – all working in concert with each other as an integrated media company.”

According to Comcast, the new spin-off network will be finished in about a year.

CNN SHUTDOWN FEARS

As the network also seeks to reduce the salary cost, two individuals informed The U.S. Sun that prominent CNN figures, including Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Jake Tapper, and Kaitlan Collins, are afraid they may be let go.

Although they have been landing multi-million dollar partnerships, the household anchors are now afraid that CNN, which laid off 100 employees this summer, will fire them once more.

It is also said that hordes of factory workers are “scared” of losing their employment.

As ratings continue to fall to all-time lows, CNN, like MSNBC, has been dealing with a severe viewership crisis.

Another round of widespread layoffs is “inevitable” in the coming weeks, according to network insiders who spoke to The U.S. Sun.

“We know that the numbers have been going down a lot, and the tensions have been very high for long months now, as we are getting many signs that people are gonna be fired and axed very soon,” a reporter for the network told The U.S. Sun.

“We’ve been talking a lot lately, and the election results—which showed poor turnout—are really the final nail in the coffin for a lot of workers.

“Some of us have already been approached by some media outlets, like Al Jazeera or even Fox News, and some platforms in the USA and abroad.”

The top stars are already planning their future moves, according to another source.

An 18-year network veteran told The U.S. Sun, “The situation is easier for the big stars compared to the other journalists and the production workers because there are a lot of other media and platforms or TV channels.”

“I have been feeling frustration and tensions in the star hosts, like Anderson Cooper, Jack Tapper, and Erin Burnett, for example, and some of them have been fed up with the situation for a bit now.”

CNN has seen a sharp drop in viewership since 2016.

The network’s primetime viewership has decreased to roughly 800,000 from an average of 13.3 million.

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