MSNBC star Rachel Maddow is taking a $5 million pay cut amid growing uncertainty about the channel’s future, The Ankler reported Thursday.
Maddow, who currently makes $30 million a year at the network, renegotiated for $25 million a year for the next five years.
“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.
Comcast, the owner of NBCUniversal, plans to spin off several NBC channels— like MSNBC and CNBC— into its own company. NBCUniversal Chairman Mark Lazarus is currently heading the effort, expected to be completed by the end of 2025, called SpinCo.
The channel is currently at a crossroads following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. According to Nielsen data, ratings dipped to 40 percent less than they were this time last year— though execs are counting on viewers to come back the way they did in 2016 once Trump’s administration gets underway.
Producers are also grappling with how to platform conservative voices at the “only safe space for a liberal TV audience,” as one MSNBC insider put it.
“We were so Harris propaganda that when she lost, viewers were shocked,” one on-air pundit said. “It turned into one giant circle j–k and echo chamber. If MSNBC wants to be of service to its viewers, they can’t keep them in fantasy land.”
During Trump’s first administration, MSNBC elevated “Democrats who speak Republican,” reported The Ankler, such as Hugh Hewitt and Nicole Wallace. Now, the network isn’t sure how to engage with the “Star Wars freak show” of Trump’s new appointees, one producer said.
“I don’t know if having these people on would put any useful information out,” the producer added.
Still, viewers can expect to see plenty of Maddow, with one executive calling her “ratings Viagra.” Under her new deal, Maddow will continue to anchor her Monday night show, and also produce podcasts and documentaries. The network is also planning to deploy her as a “secret weapon” on other shows when there’s breaking news.
Along with Maddow, MSNBC relies on at least three other personalities to keep viewers tuning in: Wallace, who anchors Deadline: White House, and Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s Morning Joe, which recently came under fire when the hosts traveled to Mar-a-Lago to break bread with Trump.
