MSNBC’s star anchor, Rachel Maddow, took a $5 million annual pay cut, as the left-leaning network is reeling from a collapse in viewership, the Ankler reports. She will still be earning an eight figure income to work one day a week.

Ms. Maddow secured a five-year annual $25 million contract to continue her gig at MSNBC, a sizable decrease from the controversial $30 million deal she negotiated three years ago, according to the closely-followed substack publication. She will continue to anchor her signature “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Mondays only, and produce intermittent podcasts and documentaries for the network. 

An unnamed MSNBC executive justified continuing to pay Ms. Maddow a king’s ransom by calling her “ratings Viagra” and talking about the instant ratings boost she grants when she chooses to appear as a guest on various NBC shows. 

Another unnamed MSNBC executive told the Ankler that the network “needed to keep her” because “no one else can do what she does.” 

MSNBC, however, has been thrown into a panic amid the recent news that Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversity, is planning to spin off all of its NBCUniversal cable channels except Bravo into a new, publicly traded company. The cast-off networks include MSNBC and CNBC. The move could potentially require the channels to change their names and logos and force MSNBC to leave the historic 30 Rockefeller Plaza complex at Manhattan and return to New Jersey, where it was first established and where CNBC is based. 

The split from NBC could also cost MSNBC its access to NBC News’ resources on which MSNBC is extremely dependent. These include NBC’s supposedly objective news reporters, who are heavily used during MSNBC’s daytime programming, its crossover talent who appear on both networks, and its access to legal and standards support. 

“Nerves are as raw in 30 Rock right now as the oysters downstairs at Oceana,” the Ankler reports, noting that MSNBC’s ratings, two days after the election, had nosedived 40 percent year over year. The channel recently took heat when its star duo, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who lead “Morning Joe,” visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week. 

The co-hosts, who have been notoriously critical of Trump, even accusing him of displaying fascistic behaviors, surprised viewers when they announced during their Monday show that they had met with the president-elect to “restart communications.” Ms. Brzezinski said that the decision marked an effort to “do something different,” which she added “starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him.” 

The resounding disapproval of the news became clear just an hour later, with Nielsen Media Research recording that the channel saw a significant drop in viewers in the show’s final three hours. The show’s hosts were barraged with criticism from both sides of the aisle, with the left accusing them of bending the knee and the right calling the effort too little, too late, and all for show. 

Trump, for his part, appeared to have no problem with the meeting, later telling Fox News that the sitdown was “extremely cordial” and that the duo praised his “flawless” presidential campaign. 

Despite the recent troubles, the network is reportedly banking on a viewership rebound once Trump takes office, as what happened back in 2016. Outrage over the 45th president’s “Muslim ban” prompted viewers to come “roaring back,” the Ankler reports. 

“People are burned out after the election because they were suffering an immediate flesh wound, but they are going to recover and need a safe space — and this is the only safe space for a liberal TV audience,” one MSNBC insider told the Ankler. “No one else provides that comfort.”