NBC is so determined to keep “Today” host Matt Lauer happy after its rocky patch with the show, it’s agreed to foot the bill for helicopters to fly him to the Hamptons and back.
In June, Lauer extended his lucrative $20 million-a-year deal with NBC News to remain a “Today” co-host through 2016, following speculation that he would leave the show in the wake of the storm over the brutal departure of Ann Curry in 2012.
As part of the deal, NBC agreed to pay for Lauer to chopper out to the Hamptons, where he has a 40-acre horse farm in Water Mill and a nearby mansion, reportedly worth $15 million, in which he lives year-round with his wife, Annette Roque, and their children.
A source told us: “NBC News chiefs want to do everything to keep Matt happy. They believe ‘Today’ has turned a corner and he is the key to its continuing success. They agreed to pay for his helicopter flights to the Hamptons and back, so he can spend more time with his family.”
While NBC sources are whispering Lauer could be choppering to the Hamptons and back up to three times a week, other insiders insist his flights there are fewer.
But NBC does pick up the tab. He’s been spotted hopping on flights on Liberty Helicopters, HeliFlite and Blade from the city.
Lauer, who also has a Manhattan apartment, previously told Hamptons magazine he’s been spending time on the East End his whole life.
He told interviewer Hoda Kotb, “I think the image that people have is that it’s all polo fields and cocktail parties. And the fact of the matter — my experience and Annette’s experience . . . is about parent-teacher conferences and Little League and music lessons.” He continued, “We have a painfully normal existence . . . We go to the local drugstore, and we walk the dog on the beach . . . and take pony-riding lessons . . . very much small-town America — it just happens to have a reputation and a name like the Hamptons.”
A “Today” rep insisted, “On rare occasions, Matt will fly home, but most of the time you’ll find him stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway with everyone else.”