Mark Cuban: Rather was 'Held Back' by CBS

June 19th, 2006 2:57 PM

The billionaire owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks (currently in the NBA Finals), Mark Cuban, wants to hire Dan Rather for a small weekly show on his HDNET channel, a network for high-definition TVs.

Reports Hollywood Reporter:

Former "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather's departure from the network where he worked for the past 44 years could be finalized as soon as Monday (June 19), and he already might have landed another gig.

HDNet chief Mark Cuban confirmed Friday that he and Rather are discussing a deal that would have Rather anchoring a one-hour weekly interview/newscast on the high-definition premium channel.

Rather told the New York Times he was intrigued by the opportunity.

"We think he was being held back by the corporate structure of CBS. They prefer pretty faces, earnings per share and fluff to news with a payoff. Dan is hungry to do something unique and exciting. So we are talking about how he can do that with HDNet," Cuban wrote Friday in an e-mail message to The Hollywood Reporter.