Complete Coverage: TCA Winter Press Tour 2012
Pasadena, Calif. -- Despite the rumors that Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were in talks to move their show to another network, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said Saturday at the TCA press tour that he was never worried the duo would depart.
"They're under contract for awhile and they're happy and it couldn't be better," he said. "I never, ever thought they were going to leave."
Scarborough admitted that he and Brzezinski had talked about the possibility, noting that they have relationships with people at several other news networks, and Brzezinski especially at CBS, where she worked before MSNBC.
"We had a lot of conversations with a lot of different people," Scarborough said. "[CBS News Chairman] Jeff Fager is a good friend of mine, we talked with them but talked with a lot of different people."
"We had a great home at MSNBC," he added. "We had an opportunity that Phil had given us to talk about ideas in a way that you can't on other networks."
"It just didn't materialize," Brzezinski said.
No doubt keeping the pair at MSNBC is of great importance to the network, as advertisers will pay a premium to be associated with the Morning Joe brand, according to Griffin, and Scarborough and Brzezinski are a major part of that brand.
"You build shows around people, that's why this works so well," Griffin said.
As for the recent controversy between former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann and his new network Current TV, Griffin was mum on his former employee, telling reporters he wasn't familiar with the topic when asked repeatedly about it.
