The network is expected to hold a news conference Monday morning to announce that Ann Curry will succeed Meredith Vieira as the co-host of Today, the sprawling morning show that Vieira and Matt Lauer have anchored for five years. Curry is likely to take Vieira’s seat in June, according to people with direct knowledge of the appointment who also described plans for the news conference.
Ann Curry will be co-host with Matt Lauer while Natalie Morales is elevated to newsreader on NBC’s top-rated morning show.
The announcement that Meredith Vieira would be leaving NBC’s top-rated Today was reported to be coming the first week in May, and the switch in September, when Vieira’s contract expires. But sources now say the timetable has accelerated. The announcement could come as soon as today that Vieira will step down as Matt Lauer’s co-anchor in June and she will be replaced by Ann Curry.
‘Today’ Boss On Lauer Rumors: ‘Ludicrous’
Jim Bell, the executive producer of NBC cash cow Today, says the rumor that Matt Lauer has given notice that he will leave when his contract is up at the end of 2012 is “silly speculation.”
The CBS Evening News anchor is currently on a tour touting her new book, and she didn’t give her former colleague any info on her plans once her contract with CBS expires in June.
After a record 798-week winning streak, NBC’s biggest cash cow, the Today show, suddenly looks vulnerable. The morning TV staple, a half-a-billion-dollar advertising and ratings juggernaut, will face its biggest challenge yet if co-hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira leave when their contracts expire. Speculation that America’s most popular morning team is nearing an end already has change-averse advertisers feeling skittish, especially as they strategize about where to commit their ad budgets ahead of the TV networks’ annual upfronts in May.
Exclusives
As headlines have Meredith Vieira leaving the Today show, a source tells Entertainment Tonight that Matt Lauer has notified his NBC bosses that he will be resigning from Today when his contract expires on Dec. 31, 2012. Could he be thinking about re-teaming with his former Today co-host Katie Couric and his former Today executive producer Jeff Zucker?
Meredith Vieira is likely to leave NBC’s Today when her current contract expires later this year, according to a source familiar with her plans. Vieira has been in discussions with NBC News executives for several months about extending her deal, which is up in September. But the co-anchor is said to be weary of the demanding early morning hours and is ready to move on.
The move is part of an effort to promote the show’s redesigned website and new Internet home.
By halting production on the eighth season of Two and a Half Men, CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. are turning away from a proven hit with both viewers and advertisers.
Today show hosts’ Behind the Royal Wedding documentary will chronicle everything from the flowers to the dress design to the guest list.

Gene Shalit, the uniquely-coiffed television personality who has been a mainstay on the Today show for four decades, will leave the NBC program on Nov. 11. Shalit said in a statement, “It’s enough already.”
