Ari's 30 Rock, Netflix's Comp Crisis, & Spotify vs. Young

Happy Friday, and thanks as always for stopping by The Daily Courant, our afternoon tip sheet highlighting the best new journalism at Puck.

Today, Dylan Byers returns with a riveting inside look at the high-powered negotiations behind MSNBC's latest talent shakeup: a promotion for Stephanie Ruhle that quietly positions Joe Scarborough for a massive payday. Plus a hair-raising follow-up on the worsening dysfunction inside CBS News.

Then, below the fold: Matt Belloni reports on the agita among Netflix executives as the company's cratering stock price pushes their stock options underwater. And don't miss the latest episode of our new podcast, The Powers that Be, with updates on Stephen Breyer, Vladimir Putin, Shari Redstone, Spotify vs. Neil Young, and more...

“It’s Ari Emanuel’s Network Now”

After Maddow’s work-less-for-more mega-deal, Emanuel has now negotiated a fifth hour for Joe & Mika, and helped Stephanie Ruhle take over for BriWi. What’s going on at MSNBC? Will they start airing bull-riding at midnight?

Never underestimate the power of a well-timed leak. Late Wednesday night, Axios scooped that MSNBC's 9 a.m. host Stephanie Ruhle would be taking over Brian Williams' former chair at The 11th Hour. It was a notable and well-deserved accomplishment for Ruhle, a rare talent and generous colleague who will undoubtedly thrive in her new perch. But the headlines about Ruhle’s promotion arguably obscured the more remarkable news: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski had succeeded in convincing Jeff Shell to give Morning Joe yet another hour of real estate on the network. Scarborough & Co. now own 25 hours per week, or more than 25 percent of the entire MSNBC weekday lineup. 

The expansion of the Morning Joe franchise—which starts with Way Too Early at 5 a.m. and will now run until 10 a.m.—reveals a lot about the current state of affairs at MSNBC. First, it's a reminder of the influence wielded by superagents Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro. In the fall, the duo negotiated the deal that gave Rachel Maddow $30 million-a-year with the option to step away from her primetime show and work less. They also negotiated on behalf of Scarborough to get the additional hour for Morning Joe. As for Ruhle's jump to The 11th Hour, a promotion that others at the network (most notably Ali Velshi) were hoping for—yes, Emanuel and Shapiro represent her, too. Indeed, there's a case to be made that WME wields more power inside MSNBC than any of the executives working under Shell. Or, as one high-ranking MSNBC source told me today, “it’s Ari Emanuel’s network now.”

Of course, the decision to give one show five hours of real estate also points to a pronounced lack of alternatives and the desire to manage existing assets as the company pivots to a streaming future. I don't begrudge anyone for milking their existing I.P.—it's a tried and true practice in Hollywood, and there's already a precedent for it at 30 Rock with the decision to add a fourth hour to the Today show. This expansion also allows Morning Joe to gain viewers on the West Coast, where Scarborough has already finished his fifth cup of coffee by the time most people are waking up. But doubling down on Scarborough only makes MSNBC more reliant on one star who can continue to squeeze Shell's purse...

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