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Josh Elliott to Depart ABC News for NBC Sports, Amy Robach Promoted To GMA's News Anchor


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Because of Strahan's connections with Fox and the lack of a national show on Fox, they could use Fox as leverage whenever that time comes. A 9 a.m. national show wouldn't impede on the local news shows which Fox affiliates are already committed to.

Fox did try a 9am weekday talk show back in 1996-1998, first importing FX's breakfast television program with Tom Bergeron and Laurie Hibberd, and later with Vicki Laurence. And "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet (and Spaghetti Cat)" was a de facto Fox network show, as it, like Live, originated out of the network's NY flagship and was distributed by 20th Television.

 

Ironically, following "The Morning Show's" demise, most Fox affiliates and O&Os expanded their morning newscasts through the 9am hour. I don't think any of those affiliates are willing to give up that hour, especially to a network program... given the frosty reception many affiliates had towards a possible late night show with Conan O'Brien a few years back.

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Never was a fan of Josh and always thought he should of stayed at ESPN, and of course his ego wanted more piece of the pot. However with Elliott coming over to NBC likely successor to Matt Lauer job. It only a matter of time before Sam and Al do the switcheroo with Sam moves to Today and Al will be on weather channel.

 

Matt almost 60yrs old and Alex Trebek contract up in a year and there rumblings that Lauer could be the new host of Jeopardy! He also has a deal for a talk show too.

 

Today going to try it best to get back at the top with Josh/Savannah/Natalie/Sam and if Today could just do one hour with Kathie Lee/Hoda and take that extra hour away.

 

GMA going to have Robin/George/Amy/Lara along with Michael/Ryan and continue to climb at the top.

 

CBS This Morning going to do well even though it all news no fulff and there cast are ok.

 

FOXNews- their morning cable show does well for their audience.

 

MSNBC-Morning Java with Joe and Mika & Company have their audience.

 

HLN-Robin Meade will sing her songs and out pace sister network CNN who will stumble in the morning rotation.

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Same with Erin Andrews getting shared by fox sports and ABC

 

Erin is a co-host of DWTS in addition to her her FOX Sports duties. ABC and FOX Sports are not sharing her.
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Pigs will fly the day that Josh Elliot becomes the main anchor at Today.

Have to say that Josh has stated that he chose to leave for sports point blank period. Though he could have handled it better, makes sense since he did settle for less money. Don't think he would have left for a Today position when he was next in line for GMA, unless he was guaranteed Matt's position in a certain amount of time.

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Have to say that Josh has stated that he chose to leave for sports point blank period. Though he could have handled it better, makes sense since he did settle for less money. Don't think he would have left for a Today position when he was next in line for GMA, unless he was guaranteed Matt's position in a certain amount of time.

 

I don't buy for a minute that he really wanted to go back into sports. If that was the case, then why didn't he ask management/agent that he preferred to go back to doing sports and find a place for him back at ESPN? He's trying to save face due to all the bad press. What he and his reps were asking for was more than Disney/ABC was willing to pay and thus had no choice but to go with NBC after the contentious negotiations with ABC fell apart.
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I don't buy for a minute that he really wanted to go back into sports. If that was the case, then why didn't he ask management/agent that he preferred to go back to doing sports and find a place for him back at ESPN? He's trying to save face due to all the bad press. What he and his reps were asking for was more than Disney/ABC was willing to pay and thus had no choice but to go with NBC after the contentious negotiations with ABC fell apart.

 

Maybe. The situation is just really messy. Like the reason for going to NBC Sports instead of just going back to ESPN if his desire was to really so sports. I guess the pay cut he received by signing with NBC aligns more clearly with the reports that he thought that ABC would give in to his demands but instead they called his bluff and showed him that they were no longer interested in negotiating either he sign or walk. Seems like little Elliott had too much of a bruised ego to back at that point, so he walked. I liked Josh for what he brought to the show and the security that he gave the shows future, but him personally I found myself more annoyed than not. Too much "look at me" and "let me interject myself into every report". Not good at hiding the arrogance either.
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I don't buy for a minute that he really wanted to go back into sports. If that was the case, then why didn't he ask management/agent that he preferred to go back to doing sports and find a place for him back at ESPN? He's trying to save face due to all the bad press. What he and his reps were asking for was more than Disney/ABC was willing to pay and thus had no choice but to go with NBC after the contentious negotiations with ABC fell apart.

 

He has said why he chose NBC Sports, he has always wanted to cover the olympics. You don't have to believe him, but thats what he said. ESPN does not have the olympics...
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He has said why he chose NBC Sports, he has always wanted to cover the olympics. You don't have to believe him, but thats what he said. ESPN does not have the olympics...

 

Just making up excuses. If he so desperately wanted to cover the olympics, why didn't he leave ESPN for NBC when he had the chance? LIke I said, he's trying to save face and is saying things to make himself look better (and to his new employer). Plus, the olympic rights come up every few years, so when the rights come up again, another network could very well outbid NBC.
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C'mon guys, there's no way he left "GMA" which was going to pay him more just to be a major reporter once a week (SNF) and once every 2 years (Olympics); he's obviously not going to talk about "Today" because it would be totally disrespectful to Matt, Carson, Willie but I guarantee whenever Matt leaves, he'll either replace him or get a salary increase to become a very highly paid newsreader/split between himself and whoever the host will be on major announcements.

 

If it's not "Today," then he's replacing Costas as the host of "SNF" and the Olympics coming soon, there's just no way he would leave what he had unless it was something big in the future. It's the same reason Michelle Beadle left the successful role she had at ESPN and the reason why Lara didn't leave. Beadle believed there was something bigger she could do at NBC (didn't work out) while there was no other place for Lara to become a bigger asset.

 

At least with "GMA," Lara is a veteran anchor so she'll continue her role and probably get more air-time preference than Robach. She's third in line now that Elliott is out.

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Just making up excuses. If he so desperately wanted to cover the olympics, why didn't he leave ESPN for NBC when he had the chance? LIke I said, he's trying to save face and is saying things to make himself look better (and to his new employer). Plus, the olympic rights come up every few years, so when the rights come up again, another network could very well outbid NBC.

As the above poster stated Josh is the one who stated he wanted to go back to sports. So what if he went from sports at ESPN to news at ABC back to sports at NBC doesn't sound like making excuses to me. Quite a few ppl have transitioned from sports to news back to sports. Lets take Robin for example she was at ESPN for several years prior to joining GMA first as news anchor and then her current role as anchor. Say for example she wanted to go back to doing sports and NBC offered her something she just couldn't pass up and she said "I've always wanted to host at the Olympics etc" would you say she's making up excuses too?

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At least with "GMA," Lara is a veteran anchor so she'll continue her role and probably get more air-time preference than Robach. She's third in line now that Elliott is out.

 

Now you have me thinking. At the top of the 8AM hour, the VO used to say "GMA continues with Robin, George, Josh, Sam & Lara". When Sam left, Lara moved ahead of Ginger in the line-up. I'm not sure that she's hopscotched Amy, though. I think the newsreader would always get third billing.

 

Since we're on subject of doubting his motives, I'll use a sports analogy. Some players, especially in football, will notoriously go to another team for less money than settle with their current team and be potentially embarrassed that they didn't get the deal they wanted. Just last year, Brian Urlacher of my Chicago Bears was in negotiations, wanting like $5M for a new contract. The team could only afford to pay $2.5M or so, as he was aging and they didn't have cap space (whole other story). The two parties parted ways on good terms, but Brian made it clear he would go elsewhere for less than $4M. In the end, he retired, but sometimes the relationship is tarnished enough in the negotiations that an exit is the only option.

 

In this case, Robin got a raise, theoretically leaving less cash for Josh, so the only logical end was an exit. It just happens, and the return to sports could actually be something that swayed the outcome.

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C'mon guys, there's no way he left "GMA" which was going to pay him more just to be a major reporter once a week (SNF) and once every 2 years (Olympics); he's obviously not going to talk about "Today" because it would be totally disrespectful to Matt, Carson, Willie but I guarantee whenever Matt leaves, he'll either replace him or get a salary increase to become a very highly paid newsreader/split between himself and whoever the host will be on major announcements.

 

If it's not "Today," then he's replacing Costas as the host of "SNF" and the Olympics coming soon, there's just no way he would leave what he had unless it was something big in the future. It's the same reason Michelle Beadle left the successful role she had at ESPN and the reason why Lara didn't leave. Beadle believed there was something bigger she could do at NBC (didn't work out) while there was no other place for Lara to become a bigger asset.

 

At least with "GMA," Lara is a veteran anchor so she'll continue her role and probably get more air-time preference than Robach. She's third in line now that Elliott is out.

C'mon guys, there's no way he left "GMA" which was going to pay him more just to be a major reporter once a week (SNF) and once every 2 years (Olympics); he's obviously not going to talk about "Today" because it would be totally disrespectful to Matt, Carson, Willie but I guarantee whenever Matt leaves, he'll either replace him or get a salary increase to become a very highly paid newsreader/split between himself and whoever the host will be on major announcements.

 

If it's not "Today," then he's replacing Costas as the host of "SNF" and the Olympics coming soon, there's just no way he would leave what he had unless it was something big in the future. It's the same reason Michelle Beadle left the successful role she had at ESPN and the reason why Lara didn't leave. Beadle believed there was something bigger she could do at NBC (didn't work out) while there was no other place for Lara to become a bigger asset.

 

At least with "GMA," Lara is a veteran anchor so she'll continue her role and probably get more air-time preference than Robach. She's third in line now that Elliott is out.

I've noticed a lot lately Carson has been the one filling in for Matt when he's off instead of say Lester or Willie. I wouldn't be surprised if later on down the road when Matt leaves the today show Lester or Willie will take Matts spot and Carson will take the 9 am from Willie. Now the only way this would ever work is if they either cancel the voice (which is broadcast from LA) or find a new host to replace Carson on the voice.

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Remember, Carson's late night mess is on life support, and the Today arrangement is allegedly the network's way of giving him an outlet should they finally pull the plug.

 

Please excuse that awful, unintended pun.

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C'mon guys, there's no way he left "GMA" which was going to pay him more just to be a major reporter once a week (SNF) and once every 2 years (Olympics); he's obviously not going to talk about "Today" because it would be totally disrespectful to Matt, Carson, Willie but I guarantee whenever Matt leaves, he'll either replace him or get a salary increase to become a very highly paid newsreader/split between himself and whoever the host will be on major announcements.

 

If it's not "Today," then he's replacing Costas as the host of "SNF" and the Olympics coming soon, there's just no way he would leave what he had unless it was something big in the future. It's the same reason Michelle Beadle left the successful role she had at ESPN and the reason why Lara didn't leave. Beadle believed there was something bigger she could do at NBC (didn't work out) while there was no other place for Lara to become a bigger asset.

 

At least with "GMA," Lara is a veteran anchor so she'll continue her role and probably get more air-time preference than Robach. She's third in line now that Elliott is out.

We know that Josh is reported to have an ego, we know that he demanded a 500%+ pay raise, we know that his agents were discussing a NBC News deal but talks fell through. ABC called Josh and his agents bluff when he began waiving the NBC Sports deal in their face and made it clear that they were not budging on their offer. If I remember correctly Josh and his agents both stated about a month ago(even while he had been talking to NBCS) that the main goal was to stay at GMA, which he had claimed to be his dream position a few times before over the years as well. We all could be wrong but I believe that NBC's grab for Josh was an effort to severely cripple GMA. They could very well have no plans to place him on the show permanently. I don't see them pushing him ahead of Lester, Willie and possibly Carson for the Today position. Ultimately to wrap up my main point, I believe that Josh thought that ABC would cave and used the threat of an offer from the competitor as leverage, once Sheerwood took his stand against Josh I'm sure Josh felt that his ego had taken a major bruise and basically jumped to NBC in contempt. EGO was the main culprit in this unnecessary situation. I'm also a bit put off by his swan song response on Twitter to the fact that he wasn't invited back for a farewell and shocked that the audience doesn't realize that either. You quit via email after a lengthy contract negotiation process riddled with your crazy demands, sign a new contract with the rival and then think that you're still somehow a welcome member to your old job. Wow.
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As the above poster stated Josh is the one who stated he wanted to go back to sports. So what if he went from sports at ESPN to news at ABC back to sports at NBC doesn't sound like making excuses to me. Quite a few ppl have transitioned from sports to news back to sports. Lets take Robin for example she was at ESPN for several years prior to joining GMA first as news anchor and then her current role as anchor. Say for example she wanted to go back to doing sports and NBC offered her something she just couldn't pass up and she said "I've always wanted to host at the Olympics etc" would you say she's making up excuses too?

 

And as I stated before, he had a chance to go back to sports before he and his agents went to re-negotiate his contract. If he was so interested in leaving news to go back to sports,why didn't he or his agents try and see if he could go back to ESPN? As Morning News pointed out, ABC/Disney called his team's bluff and had no choice but to take NBC's deal. One can argue all night long about his motives for leaving, etc. Point is, that Josh is not the face of GMA. He is one of the faces of the program. Robin and George are the faces of GMA (This is partly why they get paid a lot of money). You can't compare one with the other, because both have different roles within the program/network. GMA would suffer more had they lost Robin, and it's clear now that Josh's departure will not hurt them one bit.
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I have noticed that Carson has gotten a lot more opportunities to sub than Willie as well lately, this is why I think Carson is a dark horse candidate who could possibly be chosen as Matt's replacement because he fits to a younger crowd. Although, I still think it's a two-horse match between Willie and Josh.

 

I doubt he would quit "The Voice" to do "Today" at 9 a.m. as a previous poster suggested. "The Voice" is still #1 and probably will still be #1 by the time Matt leaves next spring. If anything, he'll probably do both or if Willie gets promoted and Carson can't replace him, they'll simply go back to the 3 person format.

 

The only person I could see NBC wanting to promote if Willie went to the 7 a.m. hour, Carson couldn't replace Willie at 9 a.m. and NBC wanted to continue 4 person format is Ronan Farrow, who despite his current ratings, they would love to mold him into their next Anderson Cooper with some Rachel Maddow flair. Josh would be too big to put on at 9 a.m.

 

There's a report out though that "GMA" may look to expand past 9 a.m. in the next year or two, would they be able to poach Carson to lead that new hour if he doesn't feel fulfilled with "Today" or gets mad for being glossed over?

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Ryan Smith filled in for Amy today, while she filled in next to George for Robin who is on vacation. Boy, Ryan Smith is always pretty enjoyable when he's there and today he reminded me why this show needs more than one male not to mention he was really funny with Lara. Since Michael isn't full-time on GMA and the show needs to think long-term as well, I really hope that they put RyRy as Lara calls him on the show more often. Ginger was on location this morning but even their chemistry together on GMA Live is pretty good.

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