While Ryan Seacrest seems to be the only person associated with American idol that is happy with Idol, he may be leaving at the end of this season. His Idol contract ends at the end of this season…and there are a few things at play here.
He is also in negotiations with NBCUniversal. Seacrest has multiple duties with NBC including random segments on Today as well as continued work with the E! Network. Ryan is likely to leave one, if not both of these outlets once the current deal expires.
Why Seacrest Might Leave Idol:
It’s very simple: Idol has become a small shell of its former self while Seacrest continues to grow. Not only that, but Idol is also rumored to be losing money and his $30 million could be used to offset some of the shows growing costs OR go toward hiring a new, younger host of Idol. We know someone personally who would take much less than $30 mil to host the show.
Fox also has a new set of executives negotiating contracts for them. Fox really has had a major shakeup since last time Seacrest negotiated a deal with the network. That being said, the new execs might not value Seacrest as the old ones did.
Why Seacrest might leave NBC:
Simple: He’s busy. Idol is only a certain part of the year, but NBCU is a year round gig. He has plenty on his plate with just his LA radio show with Clear Channel, as well as the international version of his radio show. He also has a production company he runs as well as full service entertainment news website named after himself.
Plus, what is Seacrest wants to work more with ABC? Or maybe as part of his Fox deal he also gets a daily talk show opposite of Ellen Degeneres during non Idol live seasons…which knocks out about 3 months.
Final Thoughts:
Seacrest slowing down in general is good over all for the business. It opens up jobs all across the board for people. However, It’s really unlikely he leaves any of his jobs any time soon.
