MSNBC’s Ari Melber Reportedly in Talks With Rival Networks

Screenshot via MSNBC.

Ari Melber, a longtime ratings powerhouse for MSNBC, is checking out his options as parent company Comcast prepares to spin off the cable network, according to a new report by Lachlan Cartwright at Breaker.

Melber, who also serves as MSNBC’s chief legal correspondent, has consistently delivered both television and online viewers for MSNBC, plus his audience tends to skew younger than most cable news viewers — a reality of the actuarial tables that sends chills through many a network executive’s heart.

The fact he’s repeatedly been able to land guests all across the political spectrum is an added draw in the current political climate; even on MSNBC, Melber has not drawn the targeted ire of President Donald Trump’s critical social media posts like many other cable hosts.

His steady ratings are a big part of why Melber has been a recurring presence on Mediaite’s Most Influential in Media list in recent years, especially his digital strength. Being able to pull in tens of thousands of views with each clip of The Beat with Ari Melber is nothing to sneeze at; our calculation last December credited the show with over 1.5 billion views overall.

As Cartwright’s report — cheekily headlined “Will The Beat go on?” — noted, YouTube is “part of new MSNBC boss Rebecca Kutler’s strategy for growth,” and since Rachel Maddow rolled back her schedule to just Monday evenings and special events like the presidential debates, losing Melber to a competitor, “would be seen as a big blow.”

“Ari Melber, 45, has held meetings with rival networks and is considering departing the Comcast owned MSNBC as it prepares to be spun into a new company led by Mark Lazarus called VERSANT, according to two people familiar with the matter,” Breaker reported. “He is also weighing whether to start his own media company.”

Network brass are still “watching to see” how MSNBC’s newly shuffled evening schedule does. The shows have recognizable names leading them — Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez, and Jen Psaki — but none that have been able to draw in the views like Melber or Maddow so far.

Making overtures to competitors is a tactic that has been deployed by cable news personalities to gain leverage to nudge more favorable deals out of their current employers. With the spinoff set to happen sometime this year, the next few months should reveal whether Melber sees greener pastures elsewhere or has negotiated a role in MSNBC’s new path forward that he finds satisfactory.

Both Melber and representatives for MSNBC declined to comment to Breaker.

Mediaite also reached out to Melber, who declined to comment.

This article has been updated with additional information.