Chuck Todd has lost his 5 p.m. show on MSNBC amid much “hand wringing” at the network, Page Six is told. Todd is giving way to Nicolle Wallace’s 4 p.m. show, “Deadline: White House,” which will expand to two hours, taking over the slot previously held by Todd’s “MTP Daily,” which moves to 1 p.m. …
Chuck Todd has lost his 5 p.m. show on MSNBC amid much “hand wringing” at the network, Page Six is told.
Todd is giving way to Nicolle Wallace’s 4 p.m. show, “Deadline: White House,” which will expand to two hours, taking over the slot previously held by Todd’s “MTP Daily,” which moves to 1 p.m.
A source told us: “Nicolle’s star is on the rise, but Chuck was worried about how it would look for his brand if the ‘Meet the Press’ host and the top political guy in the organization lost this time slot. His numbers have been soft for some time, and there was much hand- wringing from him and execs as to how to position this move, which is why it took awhile for the new move to be announced.”
The insider added, “Chuck can be very difficult — he’s very opinionated — and that has strained some of the relationships internally.”
His relationship with execs at 30 Rock is often strained, we’re told, since Todd’s based in Washington, DC.
Another source revealed that he would not accept a pay cut if “MTP” was axed, although an NBC source denied this.
Todd has moderated NBC News’ “Meet The Press” since 2014 — the dominant Sunday political show for five years in ratings — and hosted a weekday version on MSNBC since 2015.
An NBC source insisted: “It just made much more sense to position the weekday show in the middle of the newsday.”
He will now expand the series to streaming video, MSNBC announced on Monday.
Starting in September, Todd will launch a weekly political program on both live-streaming outlet NBC News Now as well as NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming video hub in the run-up to the November election.
This show will follow “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” The NBC source said that ahead of the election it helps to position both “Washington-centric” shows together.
Todd will also start anchoring pre- and post-event programming around big political news nights, starting with the Democratic and Republican conventions this month, and, in coming weeks, around debates and Election Night.
Wallace’s program has become a favorite of executives at the network, who, as Variety reported, have worked to bring a host with a Republican or center-right background into its programming mix.
An NBC source said: “The huge focus for execs right now is on making Peacock a success, so Chuck being one of the first from the network to expand to streaming is a huge vote of confidence.”
Todd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Page Six exclusively reported back in January that Todd’s MSNBC show could be reshuffled in the schedule to make room for Wallace.
