Ann Curry is begging NBC to release her from her contract to pursue an anchor job at CNN, but NBC isn’t hearing it.
Curry is currently earmarked for Anderson Cooper’s coveted 8pm slot on CNN, but first she has to get the green light from NBC.
The problem is NBC isn’t going to let Curry go without a fight, begging or not, despite the fact that they just demoted the former Today show anchor and blamed her for the show’s drop in ratings.
“Ann wants out of her contract, big time,” one source told Radar Online. “She has formally asked her attorney to explore exit options from the network. However, NBC bosses have indicated they are unwilling to release Ann from the contract.”
Simply quitting isn’t the best option for Ann either due to a non-compete clause in the anchor’s contract.
“If Ann were to just quit, there is a non-compete clause, which would prohibit her from working for another news outlet for two years,” the source continued.
Jeff Zucker, the former Today show boss, will be taking over as president of CNN Worldwide in February and has his eye on Curry to take over the coveted spot.
Earlier this year Ann was demoted from being an anchor on the Today show after bosses believed a fresh new face would boost their ratings.
Needless to say, the new face didn’t help their ratings much and poor handling of the situation caused their ratings to plummet.
‘The numbers don’t lie,” one insider said. “[Ann] wasn’t responsible for the show tanking in the ratings. Ann doesn’t like the fact that the show isn’t back on top, but her on-air presence wasn’t the problem. In fact, the show lost more viewers after Ann departed the show.”
Now that the network sees the mistake they made by demoting Ann, it seems they just don’t want to let her go but letting her go might actually be the only thing left that can save them at this point.
Fans still have a bitter taste in their mouth after the network unfairly demoted the beloved anchor woman, and allowing her to move on to bigger and better things might help them forget and possibly forgive the network.
Unfortunately for NBC, however, forcing Ann to miss out on the big CNN opportunity has only reminded viewers of how unfairly she has been treated throughout 2012.
“As long as Ann remains at NBC, it will be constant reminder to everyone of how badly the situation was handled,” the insider added.
It seems like there may be a gleam of hope for the former Today show anchor as her lawyers believe the demotion was a breach of contract and she shouldn’t have to hold up her end of the bargain any more.
“Ann’s lawyer feels that there is a very strong case to be made that NBC has breached terms of the deal because Curry was demoted from Today,” the source added. “Furthermore, Ann has basically been sequestered from appearing on the network. Yes, she has been doing some work that has been assigned to her, but it hasn’t been steady.”
If Curry does take over Anderson’s spot, she is likely to become a “Christine Amanpour” of sorts while becoming an international correspondent.
