Ryan Seacrest Looking For Bigger Role At CCM+E

Hollywood's hardest working multihyphenate is said to be considering some significant changes to a portfolio that reportedly earns him $61 million annually, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

While gigs including American Idol and his 102.7 KIIS FM morning radio show are likely to continue, sources familiar with his ongoing discussions suggest others, such as E! red carpet duty, will come to an end.

As part of that strategic reshuffling, he's expected to expand his role with Clear Channel and continue to amp up his presence in the start-up community.

Ryan Seacrest

The most lucrative part of Seacrest's portfolio is likely to become that much more so. The host is in talks with longtime radio partner Clear Channel about taking on an increased role at the company. (His current $25 million deal runs through 2015, and new responsibilities would mean an extension and more money.) The plan would be for Seacrest to help build out more multiplatform programming with Clear Channel and the iHeart brand that he would host and produce via his Ryan Seacrest Productions. He began dabbling with the latter late last year, when he hosted a One Direction iHeart Radio "album release party" special on the CW.

Despite reports to the contrary, Seacrest is close to making a new deal to remain with Fox's Idol for two more years as well. (Even with its steep declines in ratings, multiple sources say Idol will continue.)

Looking forward, his future with NBCUniversal, however, is far less certain. His long-term deal with the conglomerate expired at the end of March, according to one well-placed source; and while talks continue about some producing and hosting relationship with the company, another deal of its kind is highly unlikely.

He has signaled to executives there that he'd like to move on, as NBCU hasn't been able to offer the kind of sizable platform he's after. As part of those conversations, he's made clear to execs at E!, specifically, that he'd like to walk away from his red carpet responsibilities, just as he did with his on-air presence on E! News two years ago.

Given both his experience and his reach (a four-hour weekday radio presence, Idol and a Twitter following of 12.6 million), Seacrest is said to be fielding interest from other networks, with multiple sources noting that his reps have had exploratory discussions with rival ABC, for which he hosts Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest and produces scripted comedy Mixology.

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