NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd is planning on leaving the network after his contract ends this year and has been “quietly meeting” with other media outlets about a post-NBC position, according to Semafor.
“The former host of Meet The Press has told top editors and leaders from other media organizations that he plans to leave NBC when his contract is up this year, and has discussed potential roles outside the network both in broadcast and digital media,” Semafor reported on Sunday night.
Once the face of the network’s political news division, Todd — who has been with NBC since 2007 — has seen his role significantly reduced in recent years. Back in 2020, his daily MSNBC version of Meet the Press was shifted from 5 p.m. ET to early afternoon, only for it to then be booted to NBC’s streaming service two years later.
At the same time, ratings for the venerable Sunday show that Todd hosted for nine years continued to sink, prompting the network to promote Kristin Welker — whom the network had been grooming to replace Todd — to anchor Meet the Press in 2023. Meanwhile, NBC announced that Todd would focus more on long-form special projects.
Despite Todd still being positioned as NBC News’ top political analyst following his exit from Meet the Press, his presence on the news network’s airwaves has been far less prominent over the past year. Still, he did make waves last spring when he publicly admonished the network on-air for hiring former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a political commentator, opening the floodgates for more internal backlash that eventually led NBC News to backtrack on its decision.
While Todd’s open criticism of NBC News prompted some staffers to wonder whether his time with the network would soon be coming to an end, his rumored departure this year could also just be part of the new normal within the linear television news industry.
First off, NBC Universal’s parent company Comcast announced late last year that it would be spinning off most of its cable assets into a separate standalone company, Spin Co. This means that MSNBC and CNBC will eventually no longer be part of NBC News, leaving longtime NBC News newscasters such as Todd with fewer options and opportunities.
Additionally, well-paid cable news and broadcast anchors and commentators have been forced to come to terms with networks slashing payrolls amid dwindling ad revenues and sinking ratings due to cord-cutting. With news consumers increasingly pivoting to podcasts, Substack and streaming, veterans such as Neil Cavuto, Hoda Kotb and Chris Wallace departed their outlets rather than accept steep pay decreases.
NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
