Report: Savannah Guthrie to be Ann Curry's 'Today Show' replacement

Matt Carter

June 26, 2012

Is Ann Curry about to be dismissed from "The Today Show"? It looks like it, and contrary to previous reports, she is not particularly interested in staying with NBC and taking a demotion to be a foreign correspondent.

According to a report from TMZ, the primary reason that Curry is still hosting the morning-show juggernaut alongside Matt Lauer is simply financial. NBC is not interested in paying her the $20 million remaining on her contract, and they are trying to negotiate some sort of buyout of Curry's contract that could also potentially allow her to return to television with another network. Based on preliminary discussions, the negotiations appear to be similar to what the network went through back in 2010 with Conan O'Brien, who was given a sizable amount of money to leave the network after "The Tonight Show" struggled in the ratings. His caveat was that he was banned from doing another talk show for six months, and he filled up that time by going on a nationwide tour and employing some of his crew.

At the moment, Savannah Guthrie is the consensus pick to succeed Curry at the co-anchor's desk. As a matter of fact, NBC already has a contract set up for her whenever they decide to pull the trigger on jettisoning their current co-host from her spot.

The plan ultimately is to have Guthrie in place with another time to prepare her for the Summer Olympics in London this August.