Posted on 01/15/2025 6:14:35 AM PST by dennisw
MSNBC is facing some tough times, and even its top star, Rachel Maddow, isn't escaping the budget cuts. According to The Ankler, a showbiz newsletter, Maddow has signed a new five-year deal with the network, but her salary is taking a hit, dropping from $30 million to $25 million over that period.
An unnamed TV exec shared that despite the pay cut, MSNBC was eager to keep Maddow on the team:
"It's a challenging moment, and they had to hold onto her. No one else can replicate what she brings to the table. You can't just create a brand like hers overnight."
MSNBC might be having a tough time with ratings, especially with the recent presidential election causing some confusion (like how "Morning Joe" has taken a hit after Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski met with Donald Trump), but Maddow is still considered a major draw, with one executive even calling her "ratings Viagra."
Even though she’s facing a pay cut, Maddow is set to explore a bunch of creative projects alongside her usual show. She’s expected to produce documentaries and podcasts as part of her deal and will act as a "secret weapon" for other MSNBC shows when big news breaks.
Rachel Maddow remains a key asset to MSNBC, securing a new five-year deal despite a salary reduction from $30 million to $25 million. Even with the pay cut, the network is eager to retain her, recognizing her irreplaceable role and influence. Maddow’s unique brand continues to draw viewers, with one executive even calling her "ratings Viagra."
Alongside her regular show, Maddow will explore new creative ventures, producing documentaries and podcasts, and serving as a vital contributor during major news events. Her continued presence and creative expansion solidify her status as a central figure in the network's future.
“”five-year deal with the network, but her salary is taking a hit, dropping from $30 million to $25 million over that period.””
Am I the only one who reads that as PER YEAR - 5 years - $5,000,000 per?
Even so, I wouldn’t watch her at $5.00 per year.
Maybe my math is wrong but isn't that closer to 17%
Certainly enjoyed watching them have to call the race for President Trump ... and their gloom
Mad Cow disease has proven resistant to antibiotics.
:-)
The way Rachel Maddow mind set ended up being she must have been the hell of a problem child.
The Hoof and Mouth Disease Show.
Her viewership continues to drastically SHRINK as you read this.
ralph maddo is the opposite of viagra
"Maddow" and "Viagra" should never appear in the same sentence, especially in a positive sense.
Have you looked at your ratings since November? < sad trombone>Wah-waaaah < /sad trombone>.
The market for lunacy took a major hit due to the events of November 5, 2024.
Obvious marital bliss.
Looks like Butch got himself a trad wife.
Reminds me of Ward and June waiting for Wally and the Beaver to come home from school.
😀😃😄😆😅🤣🤣🤣😂😂
I see your point. Makes a person wonder what sponsors are paying the big bucks for such a low numbered audience. Or is MSNBC going broke with such low numbers and financing Madcow’s salary with borrowed money?
WIKI
The Rachel Maddow Show premiered on September 8, 2008. Keith Olbermann, then host of MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, was Maddow’s first guest. Olbermann has been credited for persuading MSNBC to give Maddow her own program. Maddow had served as a regular guest host for Countdown when Olbermann was absent. The Rachel Maddow Show replaced Verdict with Dan Abrams.
In a 2019 segment about One America News Network (OANN), Maddow called the network “literally [...] paid Russian propaganda” based upon a Daily Beast article which reported that an OANN reporter also wrote freelance articles for the Russian state-owned Sputnik. In response, OANN sued Maddow, Comcast, MSNBC and NBCUniversal Media. U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant dismissed the suit in 2021, ruling that Maddow’s statement was a statement of opinion (thus protected by the First Amendment) and would not be construed by a reasonable viewer as an “assertion of objective fact.” Bashant also found that California’s anti-SLAPP law applied, meaning that OANN had to pay the defendants’ attorneys’ fees.
Maddow took a hiatus from February to April 2022 and, upon returning, announced that the show would move from its daily format to weekly on Mondays beginning in May, in order to focus on podcast projects as well as to serve as executive producer for an upcoming film based on her book Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House.
In May 2022, the program was retitled MSNBC Prime on nights that Maddow did not host. It otherwise retained the same production staff, format, and presentation as The Rachel Maddow Show, with its guest hosts often being pundits who had a similar style to Maddow. In June 2022, MSNBC announced that Alex Wagner would be Maddow’s long-term replacement in the time slot on Tuesdays through Fridays beginning August 16, with her show’s title later announced on August 3 as Alex Wagner Tonight.
On January 13, 2025, MSNBC announced that Maddow would temporarily return to a weeknight schedule from January 20 to April 30, 2025, to cover the first 100 days of the second presidency of Donald Trump, with Wagner reassigned to a correspondent role.
In March 2018, The Rachel Maddow Show was America’s highest-rated cable news show, besting Fox News’ Hannity, with Variety stating that “Maddow averaged 3.058 million viewers for the month, narrowly topping Hannity’s 3.00 million.”
In ratings numbers released in July 2019, the show slipped to fifth place, with an average of 2.5 million viewers in the overall cable ratings behind Hannity with 3.3 million viewers, Tucker Carlson Tonight with 3.1 million viewers, The Ingraham Angle with 2.6 million viewers and The Five with 2.5 million viewers.
In early 2021, the show achieved its highest ratings in its history, averaging 4.3 million viewers in January and 3.7 million in February, making it the highest rated program on all of American cable television, including non-news programming, and also averaged the most viewers for cable news in the 25–54 age demographic. By June 2021, The Rachel Maddow Show had fallen to fourth place overall with 2.3 million overall viewers, and fifth place across the 25–54 demographic, averaging 289,000 viewers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rachel_Maddow_Show
“The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon’s second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when—at the height of Watergate—three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and launched a mission to take him down before it was too late, before Nixon’s impending downfall elevated Agnew to the presidency.”
https://www.amazon.com/Bag-Man-Audacious-Cover-Up-Spectacular/dp/0593136683
From 2008...
https://pagesix.com/2008/09/02/way-to-skirt-the-issue/
Maddow has always been willing for the shilling, hasn’t she.
“It’s a challenging moment, and they had to hold onto her. No one else can replicate what she brings to the table. You can’t just create a brand like hers overnight.”
Who knew that outright, dumbassed STUPIDITY was so valuable?
Both her fans are happy she’s staying with MSNBC.
They could have replaced her with Mark Cuban, and no one would have noticed the difference.
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