‘Today’ Show Revisits Octomom, Without Opening Checkbook

By Merrill Knox 

NBC’s “Today” Show will have a full house tomorrow, as Nadya Suleman — better known as the Octomom — will be in-studio with Ann Curry for her first live interview along with her now two-year-old octuplets. The segment will also include a taped interview Amy Robach did with Suleman at her California home (right). Robach got an up-close look at the place Suleman and her 14 children call home.

We’ve been following the big “gets” by the TV news networks recently, some of which have come at a price, as the networks open their checkbooks to pay licensing fees — for home videos, family photos and other material — in order to secure the interview.

In the case of Octomom, an NBC News spokeswoman tells TVNewser, “Absolutely no licensing fees were paid at all with this interview. We went to California, we shot our own video — we did not pay anything whatsoever.”

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It’s standard operating practice for networks to provide airfare and lodging for guests when they fly to New York for an interview. Putting up Suleman and her 10 kids in a New York City hotel? That’ll be one big bill.

Suleman also appears this week on the HDNet show “Naughty But Nice with Rob” hosted by PopEater blogger Rob Shuter. It’s part of a larger deal with Suleman that will feature her on a new HDNet series, “Celebridate” airing this Fall.

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