KATIE Couric says “Today” can go on without her if she makes the leap to CBS.
“I have no doubt that if I did make a decision not to stay, the show would continue to do really well,” she tells the latest edition of TV Guide.
CBS has confirmed that Couric is in talks to take over Dan Rather’s old job as the anchor of “CBS Evening News.” If she made the move, it is also likely that she would become a correspondent for the network’s long-running newsmagazine, “60 Minutes.”
Couric, whose $60 million NBC deal expires this spring, could inform CBS brass of her decision as early as this week, according to reports.
“All I will say is I’m figuring out what I want to do and when I want to do it,” Couric says. “I’m very fortunate to have some opportunities. It’s something I’m thinking long and hard about . . . I haven’t made a decision.”
It is believed that Couric could fetch as much as $20 million a year from CBS. Sources say the network may have offered her a five-year deal worth around $100 million, which would turn Couric – already the highest-paid journalist in history – into one of the highest-paid TV stars ever.
But among industry insiders, the feeling is that money is not an issue. The common opinion is that she is likely contemplating the move as a quality-of-life issue – more time with her kids, no more going to work in the middle of the night.
“If Katie were to go off and do something challenging that she couldn’t pass up, I’d be happy,” Couric’s co-host Matt Lauer tells the magazine. “And then I would be disappointed and at a loss for what to do. As long as it’s for the right reasons and it’s not because she’s dissatisfied with anything here at NBC. But it would be a huge loss.”
Lauer also says that he and show’s staff were upset by news coverage of alleged conflicts between Couric and other members of the broadcast team.
“I think too much was made of things that just weren’t true – such as the whole chemistry issue or that we hated each other,” he says. “The only thing that got us down was reading that stuff all the time. You start to think, ‘Who’s saying these things?’ ”
don.kaplan@nypost.com
