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    The Cutline

    Matt Lauer makes $17 million, topping annual TV news salaries

    Lauer touches Couric's knee on her last day on "Today," May 31, 2006. (AP)

    When Katie Couric's five-year, $65 million contract with CBS News expired earlier this year, one of the reported reasons that the network elected to part company with its nightly news anchor was that Couric simply had become too expensive to keep. Her "Evening News" replacement, Scott Pelley, is said to be earning less than $5 million per year.

    Meanwhile, some of Couric's other colleagues in the television news business appear to be doing just fine.

    According to TV Guide's upcoming salary issue, Matt Lauer's new contract with NBC earns him $17 million a year--a well-deserved figure, given the exotic bird hazards that Lauer has to face on the "Today" show set. Brian Williams, host of NBC's "Nightly News," earns $13 million annually--$1 million more than ABC's "World News" host Diane Sawyer.

    Anderson Cooper's new deal with Time Warner--which includes "AC 360" and his upcoming daytime talk show, "Anderson"--is worth $11 million a year. Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, who hosts the top-rated show on cable news, gets $10 million per year--the same salary that former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann now draws at his new perch at Current TV.

    Despite these bulging salaries, "network news divisions and talk-show producers are also trying to hold down costs," TV Guide reports. "Regis Philbin is leaving 'Live! With Regis and Kelly' instead of taking a cut in his $15 million salary." And Piers Morgan "is getting less than a third of what Larry King earned during his final year in CNN's prime-time lineup."

    The TV Guide issue with a complete list of TV salaries hits newsstands Thursday.

     
     
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    6,511 comments

    • Scott A.  •  9 mths ago
      How can Current TV afford 10 million for anybody?
      • Early 9 mths ago
        soros.........
      • wassup123 9 mths ago
        makes you wonder how much the tv stations are making....
      • ipscshooter 9 mths ago
        Algore owns it. He has made Hundreds of Millions off of the anthropogenic global warming scam...
    • A Yahoo! User  •  9 mths ago
      I'll read you the news for $100K a year. Anyone hiring? You could save millions!
      • Richard 9 mths ago
        good !!!
      • ken 9 mths ago
        Yeah, but you'd suck at it and no one would watch you.
      • jc 9 mths ago
        I'm sure that would be ratings gold
    • Cojack  •  9 mths ago
      How can they feel our pain ?........They don't have a clue............
      • Noah 9 mths ago
        Yeah, um... Obviously no. Just no.
        Do some Google searches on some of these anchors. You'll see. ;)
        Grew up dirt poor.
        Oh, you dummie.
      • Michelle 9 mths ago
        I couldn't agree more..
      • Ye old Philosopher 9 mths ago
        Hopefully it is all taxable income
    • CK  •  9 mths ago
      As long as you watch them, they will get paid.
      • R.. Evolution 9 mths ago
        Yes!! Watch Amy Goodman on Democracy Now---real info and she probably gets not much more than minimum wage.
      • BlakeR 9 mths ago
        Exception Olbermann who is on a network that nobody watches or even has, this one amazes me.
      • GozieBoy 9 mths ago
        So what then is the excuse for paying Olbermann more than minimum wage?
    • 55555  •  9 mths ago
      I like how they try to show how they're just like us.
      • . 9 mths ago
        Just like US if US is people like Bill Gates and Tiger Woods. LOL
      • Dispatch Office 9 mths ago
        They ARE just like us. They put their pants on one leg at a time.
      • Harumph 9 mths ago
        Are you saying they're not human?
    • D.  •  9 mths ago
      Wow, and these guys have the nerve to blast company CEO's pay in their news reporting, who, on average make LESS than they do.
    • A Yahoo! user  •  9 mths ago
      Wake up people. The reason athletes, actors, musicians, get the money they get is because of you (and me). If they are getting paid a million dollars it's because the network/team/studio is making 1.1 million when you watch them. If we boycotted movies, music, tv, sporting events, prices would come down but that will nevr happen. This is the same dynamic controlling chinese crap products and our very own government elected officials, we have the power, be it through what we purchase or how we vote, yet we don't and we continue to complain.
    • dcphony  •  9 mths ago
      Now you know why the media manufactures news.........................
    • TOM P  •  9 mths ago
      Not one of them deserves to make that much.
    • tired of all the hype  •  9 mths ago
      the amazing part of these news shows is that they start at 7 a.m. do a few minutes of interviewing someone and the other host does the rest-commercials in between and then at 7:20 here comes the local news with more commercials-what a wonderful life for these people!
    • Abbie  •  9 mths ago
      No wonder there is 10 minutes of news and 20 minutes of commercials!
    • Ahmad Durden  •  9 mths ago
      I'm in the military and I make 37k a year, makes it all seem worthless. What am I risking my life for?
    • dave  •  9 mths ago
      funny, i make 44k as a teacher, haven`t had a raise in 5 years, and these azzclowns make 17million/year for reading a prompter....America truly is swell....Dow is Down 500 more today....
    • Opus  •  9 mths ago
      calling Lauer a newsman may be the biggest joke of all time - he is the people magazine of news - overpaid by about $16,950,000 per year
    • Doonie  •  9 mths ago
      I'd like to know what they pay in taxes. Do they pay their fair share like we do?
    • Texas 1  •  9 mths ago
      The BEST thing we ALL can do to stop this nonscence is to TURN THESE IDIOTS OFF. DO NOT WATCH THESE PUKES. Let your local network stations know, in writing, you do not watch...
    • Steve  •  9 mths ago
      So why don't we take everything said here by everyone and ....apply it to Sports figures!...?
    • pumpkin  •  9 mths ago
      When did things get sooo out of hand ? ? TV anchors....Sports stars....Movie stars, all make unbelievably ridiculous salaries....it NEVER used to be like this. No wonder the price of going to a movie, to a game has skyrocketed !.....SHAME on the people that allowed this.
    • Yeah, sure  •  9 mths ago
      Matt Lauer is a prettyboy shill for the left.
    • Gordos  •  9 mths ago
      I think it is crazy to read about all these people who make so much money and have so much in this world and there are still people in this very country starving and struggling to stay alive.
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