Insider’s Claire Atkinson on Sunday reported that Rachel Maddow is staying at MSNBC, but not in the same role she has held for the past thirteen years. Maddow has signed a new multi-year deal with MSNBC’s parent NBCUniversal.

According to reports, Mark Shapiro of Endeavor, the talent agency that repped Maddow in the negotiation, told Atkinson that Maddow “is staying home where she belongs with a much broader deal at NBCUniversal and couldn’t be happier.”

It is also said that the agreement means she will continue to host “The Rachel Maddow Show” weeknights at 9pm ET for the time being.

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But that is not the long-term plan. It is reportedly said that the show will come to an end sometime next year as Maddow shifts gears to more of a weekly format.

On Sunday, Atkinson alluded to this and wrote, “Shapiro would not comment further and declined to say how much Maddow would be paid, saying only she would have more scheduling flexibility and will be expanding on her ideas.”

What is the ‘much broader deal’?

The key words in Shapiro’s statement were “a much broader deal.” According to reports, Maddow’s new contract will entail developing new projects across NBCU. This sounds like a news business version of the entertainment showrunner deals that have proliferated across Hollywood.

It should also be noted that Maddow’s agreement is not limited to news. NBCU’s Focus Features is already working on a feature film version of “Bag Man,” based on Maddow’s podcast and book of the same name.

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Maddow has many more ideas for dramas and other projects. 

Maddow averaged as many as 2.3 million viewers. This made her MSNBC’s most popular host by a mile. The host who follows her, Lawrence O’Donnell, averaged 1.5 million.

Earlier this month, The Daily Beast reported that her contract coming up for renewal, Maddow was aware of several viable alternatives, and took a close look at them. But NBCU simply could not afford to lose her.

This is where “scheduling flexibility” came into play. Among Maddow’s friends and associates, it is not a secret that she has mixed feelings about the grind of a live nightly program.