The Project: Carrie Bickmore is ‘in talks’ with Seven, Nine and Ten

Carrie Bickmore will continue to host Hit Network’s national drive show with Tommy Little following her departure from The Project, an insider has confirmed.

Her management is also in talks with all three commercial networks to secure her future TV prospects as she prepares to exit Channel 10 next month.

Sources familiar with the negotiations say Bickmore won’t be leaving the Carrie and Tommy show, which airs weekdays from 3-6pm. 

They also denied reports she was being considered for 2Day FM’s breakfast show.

Carrie Bickmore (left) will continue to host Hit Network’s national drive show with Tommy Little (right) following her departure from The Project, an insider has confirmed 

Bickmore’s reported $1.5million radio salary will also remain unchanged. 

Aside from radio, the insider revealed Bickmore’s management is speaking to Seven, Nine and Ten about opportunities for the popular presenter.

She will likely end up signing a ‘network deal’, which refers to an agreement whereby a TV personality agrees to join a network’s exclusive talent line-up. 

Sources familiar with the negotiations say Bickmore won’t be leaving the Carrie and Tommy show, which airs weekdays from 3-6pm. They also denied reports she was being considered for 2Day FM’s breakfast show 

Such an agreement would mean Bickmore could float between different programs intermittently, rather than being tied down to a specific show.

It follows reports Channel 10 executives were taken by surprise when network golden girl Bickmore announced her departure from The Project. 

Bickmore was apparently earning a whopping $1.1million per year to host the current affairs program for just three nights a week between 2021 and 2022, making her a higher earner than top-tier stars at Seven and Nine.

Bickmore’s management is also in talks with all three commercial networks to secure her future TV prospects. She will likely end up signing a ‘network deal’, which refers to an agreement whereby a TV personality agrees to join a network’s exclusive talent line-up

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It follows reports Channel 10 executives were taken by surprise when network golden girl Bickmore announced her departure from The Project 

Ten bosses were ‘caught off guard’ when Bickmore threw in the towel, as they were under the impression Bickmore was satisfied with her lucrative part-time gig, reports The Australian.

Bickmore’s salary is said to be so generous that it places her among the highest-paid TV talent in Australia.

She reportedly earns more than David ‘Kochie’ Koch, who is paid about $800,000 a year to host Channel Seven’s Sunrise four days a week, as well as his full-time co-anchor Natalie Barr.

Bickmore was apparently earning a whopping $1.1million per year to host the current affairs program for just three nights a week between 2021 and 2022

Bickmore also makes more per year than Tracy Grimshaw, the long-serving host of Channel Nine’s A Current Affair, sources tell Media Diary. 

The Gold Logie winner’s salary was revealed thanks to a leaked internal memo.

‘Diary is assured that details of that particular draft contract got out when it was accidentally sent to another Ten department during Bickmore’s last round of contract negotiations,’ the report states.

She reportedly earns more than David Koch (pictured), who is paid about $800,000 a year to host Channel Seven’s Sunrise four days a week, as well as his full-time co-anchor Natalie Barr 

Meanwhile, speculation continues to swirl that Bickmore is being primed to take the helm at 2Day FM’s Sydney breakfast show.

Speculation has been rife regarding where Bickmore will go next, with some insiders saying she’s primed to host A Current Affair or could even be replacing Allison Langdon on Nine’s Today show. 

However, television industry veteran Robert McKnight believes Bickmore will instead take on a bigger role at the Hit Network. 

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Bickmore also makes more per year than Tracy Grimshaw (pictured), the long-serving host of Channel Nine’s A Current Affair, sources tell Media Diary 

‘I don’t think she’s going to ACA. Channel Nine has been pretty emphatic that it will be someone promoted internally. Although things can change from day to day,’ McKnight said on the TV Blackbox podcast. 

The former Studio 10 executive producer believes Bickmore has plenty of reasons to take over the breakfast slot from its current hosts Dave Hughes, Ed Kavalee and Erin Molan.

‘We need to consider… [Bickmore is] earning, what, a million dollars for her afternoon [radio] show per year? The question is, is [Bickmore] priming to take over the Sydney breakfast radio show?’ he said.

Television industry veteran Robert McKnight believes Bickmore’s future lies at the helm of 2Day FM’s Sydney breakfast show. She already hosts the Hit Network’s top-rating drive show alongside Tommy Little (left) and is said to be earning a million dollars per year

‘[The current show is] rating like crap. I have already heard whispers she’s being offered $2million a year to do the Sydney radio show with Tommy Little.’ 

‘Television doesn’t have the kind of money that radio does,’ McKnight later added. 

Joining breakfast radio would also give the mother of three free time in the evenings to spend with her family, which is something Bickmore mentioned she was looking forward to in her resignation speech.

However, McKnight did note that Sydney listeners may struggle to connect with Bickmore, given that she is ‘a very Melbourne personality’ 

However, McKnight did note that Sydney listeners may struggle to connect with Bickmore, given that she is ‘a very Melbourne personality’.

‘But Carrie and Tommy have a really great show! It is really an enjoyable show in the afternoon,’ he added.

Hughesy, Ed and Erin took over 2Day FM’s breakfast slot it January, but the show has failed to rise to the top of the ratings ladder.

The show reached an all-time ratings low in 2021, but has been clawing its way back and hit its highest-ever audience earlier this year.

Yet the program still remains at the bottom of the pack, trailing behind Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa and KIIS FM’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show. 

Joining breakfast radio would give the mother of three free time in the evenings to spend with her family, which is something she said she was looking forward to in her resignation speech 

It comes after a Nine Network executive denied rumours Bickmore is joining the Today show following her announcement she is leaving Channel 10’s The Project.

Industry sources said Bickmore, who has been linked to the Today gig on at least one other occasion, will take up the job in 2023 alongside Karl Stefanovic, while Allison Langdon is drafted to replace Grimshaw on A Current Affair.

But Steven Burling, Nine’s Director of Morning Television, shut down these claims on Twitter, saying the proposed moves will not be happening.

Hughesy, Ed and Erin took over 2Day FM’s breakfast slot it January, but has failed to rise to the top of the ratings ladder. (Pictured left to right: Dave Hughes, Ed Kavalee and Erin Molan)

The show reached an all-time ratings low in 2021, but has been clawing its way back and hit its highest-ever audience earlier this year. Yet the program still remains at the bottom of the pack, trailing behind Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa and KIIS FM’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show