MSNBC made headlines this week by appointing the long-term replacement for Rachel Maddow for Tuesday through Friday. NBCU News Group Cesar Conde spoke about the decision at an event where he sat down with the Financial Times’ Gillian Tett.
“We think it’s a win for us. And we think it’s a win for our audience,” Conde said about the network naming Alex Wagner as the new host, per TV Newser.
As part of her new deal with NBCUniversal, Maddow will continue to host “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Mondays at 9 p.m. ET and be part of any special coverage, breaking news events, and specials on MSNBC and streaming.
However, Maddow is now shifting to other projects, which resulted in her scaling back her duties as a weekly news host.
“It frees up someone who has an incredible following to now do, yes, live cable TV, but it also allows her now to do podcasts,” Conde said.
“It allows her to now do programs for us on our streaming platform. It allows her to work on documentaries and longer-form series, which we think is extraordinarily important because we have so many more touch points.”
Wagner will make her debut in primetime on August 16.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
