CBS - LAUER FETCHES $14-MILLION ANNUAL SALARY

He may not have garnered much attention during all the hoopla over Katie Couric's decision to leave the Today show to anchor the CBS Evening News and Meredith Vieira's decision to leave The View to replace Couric on Today, but Matt Lauer is garnering a big salary increase. Today's (Tuesday) New York Times reported that Lauer 's contract, which was due to expire in 2008, will be extended to 2011 and that he'll be paid more than $13 million a year, at least $1 million more than Vieira will presumably receive. In an interview with the newspaper, Lauer said that he could not imagine another position in broadcasting that he would want more. "I like it here," he said. "I like this job." Taking note of all of the recent features that questioned whether he and Vieira will be able to achieve the same "chemistry" that was evident between him and Couric, Lauer told the Times, "What we need to do is do some shows together. I hope people don't expect we'll come out of the box in the same place Katie and I are today, after 10 years of working together."

11/04/2006