Matt Saal, the creator and executive producer of PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton, is leaving MSNBC for a new role at Bloomberg TV. Saal will serve as an EP at Bloomberg after 12 years with MSNBC. His last day at MSNBC will March 27 and he will start his new gig on March 30.
Saal has been a senior staffer for a number of MSNBC and NBC shows during his years with NBCUniversal. He previously served as co-EP for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” winning an Emmy for the show’s coverage of the war in Afghanistan. He was first hired at NBC News in Washington as co-creator and senior producer of “The Chris Matthews Show.”
“I’ve really enjoyed working with Matt since he first joined us in 2002. He’s made significant contributions across our network, including building the talented team we have in place at PoliticsNation, and we look forward to carrying on their great work on the show. We are going to miss Matt and wish him the best of luck,” MSNBC President Phil Griffin said.
During his time with MSNBC and NBC, Saal also served as a senior broadcast producer at “Weekend Nightly News with Lester Holt,” and served as an EP for shows hosted by Joe Scarborough and Dan Abrams. Saal is married to CNN’s digital corespondent Kelly Wallace.
An MSNBC source made it clear to us that Saal’s departure has nothing to do with the fate of “PoliticsNation” or Sharpton. The show is staying in its current 6pmET time slot. MSNBC plans to announce a formal replacement shortly. Two of Saal’s senior producers will step in to run “PoliticsNation” in the meantime.
TVNewser has obtained an internal memo that Claudia Milne, head of Bloomberg TV, sent to staffers:
Hi all,
I’m thrilled to let you all know that Matt Saal will be joining us at the end of the month as an Executive Producer. Matt joins us from MSNBC where he is the EP of Politics Nation with Al Sharpton. Matt has a track record of launching television shows–including, among others, Rachel Maddow and The Verdict with Dan Abrams. He was also one of the original co-creators of the Chris Matthews show. Matt is no stranger to our editorial agenda, he helped create the investment newsletter “Grant’s Investor”. Matt has true multi-platform experience having worked across television, the digital space as well as print when early in his career he was a senior editor at George magazine.
You will find Matt incredibly smart, funny, creative and warm. He’s almost as bawdy as me and has an unusual passion for Daemons… I’ll let him explain.
Matt will be helping develop new programming when he joins us. Please make him very welcome.
And a reminder that David Gura will also be joining us next week from Marketplace as a reporter.
Please extend Matt and David your warmest Bloomberg welcome.
Claudia