End of ‘Geraldo’ Will Be New Start for Rivera

NEW YORK — Geraldo Rivera said Tuesday that he is giving up his 10-year-old syndicated daytime talk show in favor of the legitimacy--and the forum--of an expanded role at NBC News.

“At this point in my life, I want to have a serious venue where my voice can be heard on serious issues,” Rivera said in an interview. “Even though I feel that my talk show has evolved considerably in the past two years, I know that NBC had a problem with my continuing in my daytime show while being signed to NBC News.”

NBC on Tuesday announced that it was re-signing the 54-year-old Rivera to a new contract that will give him a major presence at the sprawling media company. Fox News Channel had been trying to lure him away.

Rivera will continue as host of “Rivera Live,” his talk show focusing on high-profile legal cases that airs in prime time on CNBC, the NBC cable channel that features business news during the day and talk in the evening.

Beyond that, however, the new deal calls for Rivera to anchor a new nightly newscast that will be developed for CNBC, to host four prime-time specials a year on NBC that will focus on the criminal justice system, and to appear on NBC’s “Today” show as a commentator on legal issues.

“Apart from Geraldo’s unique talent and experience, he brings a diversity of thought and passion for our work that is a real asset,” NBC News President Andrew Lack said in a statement.

As part of the fallout of the network nearly losing a valuable commodity, and to ensure that Rivera’s show and other CNBC programming meet NBC News standards, Lack was given new responsibilities for overseeing all of the cable channel’s prime-time schedule. Lack also oversees MSNBC, the all-news cable channel owned by NBC and Microsoft.

According to sources involved in the negotiations, Rivera will earn an estimated $4 million to $6 million annually, including stock options, making him one of the highest-paid anchors at NBC News.

Rivera, who will discontinue his syndicated “Geraldo Rivera Show” at the conclusion of the 1997-98 television season next Aug. 31, said that he will be “losing a couple of million” on the deal.

Some at NBC News expressed concerns about both the size of Rivera’s contract and the symbolism of signing a journalist with tabloid trappings to a network news division. Nine years ago, they noted, NBC News turned down a proposed special from Rivera on satanic worship; the entertainment division put it on instead. In the intervening years, his daytime talk show was regarded as a leading purveyor of what came to be called “trash TV.”

But others expressed relief that, as one staffer put it, “he’s not being hired to co-anchor ‘NBC Nightly News’ with Tom Brokaw.”

“We’re getting the best of Geraldo,” NBC News Vice President David Corvo said in an interview. “He’s staying with the company, and we get to use his talents, as we already have, on ‘Today’ and other programs.”

Rivera said he “will not inject advocacy” into the new nightly newscast.

“The program we’re developing will be a serious newscast,” Corvo said.

NBC offered Rivera a role at NBC News only after he accepted an offer from the Fox News Channel to move “Rivera Live” there and anchor a new nightly newscast--a decision that NBC then sought to overturn with a matching offer.

Rivera said that NBC executives were “resistant initially” to his desire for a presence on NBC News, offering him, for example, specials produced by the entertainment division, not the news division.

Rivera had been an award-winning newsman at ABC in the 1970s and ‘80s before going independent. “The issue for me with NBC was respect from the network,” he said.