NBC Delivers Suspicious Package To Wall Street Journal

NBC's leaking faster than Alec Baldwin's Twitter.  Rupert Murdoch's WSJ gets fresh spin on stale news a day after NBC suits had dinner with our generation's Merv Griffin -- Ryan Seacrest -- about filling Matt Lauer's Today show chair if Matt makes good on his rumblings to bail if he doesn't get more dough when his contract expires in December 2012. ET April 2011

As THR points out, this "is part of continued discussions" with the media mogul billed by THR as "the most famous public face of Comcast through it's E! network." 

NBC's leak is all part of traditional negotiating tactics.

Newsday's Verne Gay compiles a list of pros and cons.  One pro:  

• He'd bring a lot of attention to a show that's suddenly in a bit of a dogfight with "GMA" which is adding viewers. 

 Couple of cons:  

• He's based in California - and there's no reason to assume he'd switch coasts for this gig.  
• Not enough money in the universe to pay him. RyCrest makes - by one estimate I saw and have no real reason to doubt - about $125 million a year through his various enterprises; "Idol" alone is a $15 million payday for not even half a year's work! NBC and Comcast might work out some sort of complicated remuneration tied to E! which also pays him vast sums, but - again - should the host of "Today" be the wealthiest person in the world, or one of them?   

As for me, Matt's the Total Package. 

I'm sure there are some who would drool over Ryan in a luge suit.  I'm not one of them.

NYDN