10 weeks after being hired , NBC Today show 'revival man' is fired
Former ESPN executive Jamie Horowitz, brought in 10 weeks ago to supervise the NBC Today show, was fired yesterday.
Horowitz:'Friction.'
It was the latest development in what the New York Times called “a new round of turmoil” at the show.
Horowitz is out after what several people at the network said was a series of conflicts with members of the show’s staff as well as the management of NBC News.
In a memo sent to the staff Deborah Turness, the president of NBC News, said that she and Mr Horowitz “have come to the conclusion that this is not the right fit.”
NBC News staff members said that Ms. Turness, and her superior, Patricia Fili-Krushel, who oversees NBC News, had determined that he had to go.
Horowitz, 38, was known as a “ hot young producer and executive” at ESPN, which, like ABC, is owned by the Walt Disney Company, said the NYT.
Disney decided to prevent Horowitz from formally taking his new job at NBC until Dec. 1. Still, he had been holding meetings with “Today” show staff, starting in September, said the Times.
The reports of new turbulence at “Today” were especially upsetting for NBC News, said the NYT, because the show is its biggest profit centre. NBC has been seeking a comeback for the show, which has trailed ABC’s “Good Morning America” since 2012.
It was widely accepted inside NBC News that Horowitz had been brought in to push “Today” back to the top. In her memo, Ms. Turness called Mr. Horowitz a talented executive. But she and Ms. Fili-Krushel are reported to have agreed that he had to be removed because of the friction surrounding him.
At ESPN, Mr. Horowitz was in charge of developing new programmes. He created, the new late-night “Olbermann” show, which brought Keith Olbermann back to ESPN, and the daily round-table sports debate show “First Take.”