NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
NBC will name Chuck Todd the new host of "Meet the Press" as early as Thursday afternoon, according to people with direct knowledge of the network's plans.
The sources confirmed widespread speculation that David Gregory, the moderator of the iconic Sunday morning public affairs program for the past six years, will be replaced by Todd.One of the sources said the transition will be swift - so swift that Gregory will not even host "Meet the Press" this weekend.
Gregory seemed to confirm that in a series of Twitter messages on Thursday afternoon, hours after this story was originally published.
"I leave NBC as I came - humbled and grateful," he wrote. "I love journalism and serving as moderator of MTP was the highest honor there is."
He added, "I have great respect for my colleagues at NBC News and wish them all well. To the viewers, I say thank you."
Todd, for whom the term "political junkie" seems invented, is currently the NBC News political director and the host of "The Daily Rundown," which airs at 9 a.m. ET on NBC's cable news channel MSNBC.
He will be the twelfth moderator in "Meet the Press" history. Born on radio in 1945 and reborn for television in 1947, "Meet the Press" is the longest-running show on TV.
Within NBC, it is a cherished brand, but it's also one that has fallen on hard times. With Todd in the anchor chair, NBC hopes to reinvigorate the program and its weekly ratings.
An NBC spokeswoman declined to comment.
Negotiations with Gregory and Todd were still underway Thursday.
An announcement about Todd's promotion would end an ugly period of public conjecture about Gregory's fate, made worse by the network's tepid statement of support for him earlier this summer.
When the New York Post's Page Six column said in July that Gregory could be replaced "soon after the November midterm elections," a network representative was quoted as saying, "We heard the same false rumors and suggest you take them with a grain of salt, as we did."
Tepid support, indeed.
Mike Allen of Politico reported earlier this week that Todd was the "likely successor" to Gregory and that the change was "expected to be announced in coming weeks."
That report may have accelerated the network's timetable. If not Thursday, the anchor change will be announced no later than Friday, the sources said.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the record.
On Thursday, Gregory was in New Hampshire, far from his Washington, D.C., office. NBC News president Deborah Turness was in New York, having canceled a long-planned trip to London, to oversee the transition.
Questions about Gregory's future on "Meet the Press" surfaced shortly after Turness took over the news division in the summer of 2013.
She has discussed any number of changes to the program, including, at one point, the possibility of a studio audience.
The best-known "Meet the Press" moderator is Tim Russert, who was appointed to the job in 1991 and died suddenly in June 2008 while preparing for an edition of the program. Under Russert, "Meet the Press" was solidly No. 1 in the ratings race among the broadcast networks.
After Russert's death, Tom Brokaw filled in until December 2008, when Gregory took over. The program now routinely ranks No. 3 behind "Face the Nation" on CBS and "This Week" on ABC.
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