Report: NBC's $69 million "bet" on Megyn Kelly is "backfiring"

Mediaite

The former Fox News star was brought in to bring a bigger audience to Today, but has instead "dragged down" the "critical franchise," according to an article in this morning's Wall Street Journal. The Journal reports that affiliates are unhappy with the ratings drop and NBC staffers are "grumbling" about Kelly's "lofty budget." Still, NBC News says Megyn Kelly Today is profitable. For her part, Kelly says "our show is a baby. We’re six months old," adding: “I need to introduce myself to people who don’t know me or know some bastardized version of me that they’ve gotten from a website or a TV show. There are definitely some who only know me through some caricature they learned about on The Daily Show.” ALSO: 9 a.m. Today predecessors Al Roker and Tamron Hall earned less than half of Kelly's salary and had much better ratings.