Rather to quit CBS early for possible cable gig

Longtime CBS newsman Dan Rather says he will be leaving the network before his contract expires in November and one report has him fielding a major job offer.

The CBS website reports thatRather has revealed to several publications that "finishing details are being worked out" for him to leave CBS News after 44 years as a reporter and anchor.

The 74-year-old journalist has been working on the news magazine show 60 Minutes since he ended his 24-yearrun as the CBS Evening News anchor last year.

The New York Times reports Ratheris considering an offer from HDNet that would have him produce and host a one-hour show. The article says Rather has a three-year contract that he has yet to sign.

HDNet is a high-definition channel available to subscribers that have access through certain cable systems and satellite services.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published Friday, Rather hinted at strained relations with hisbosses, saying he would have liked to have stayed longer: "If it had worked out for me to be an important contributor to CBS, I would have liked that."

The intrepid reporter has covered a range of stories, from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to interviewing Saddam Hussein after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, as well as covering the recent Asian tsunami disaster in Indonesia.

A tainted couple of years

Rather indicated he had been turned down for various assignments he had requested: "They just said, 'Not interested,'" he told the paper.

CBS News has declined to comment on the issue.

Rather has had a rough couple of years since a discredited 2004 story, dubbed "Memogate," that questioned President George W. Bush's service in the Texas National Guard. CBS fired three executives and a producer behind the story.

Soon after, Rather announced he would be stepping down from the anchor chair in March 2005. He also issued a public apology for the story.

Bob Schieffer stepped in as interim anchor and this September, Katie Couric, lured away from NBC's The Today Show, will sit in the anchor chair.

He took one last jab at his bosses in the L.A. Times interview: "The work has not turned out what I hoped it would be … The network executives decided that I should go onto the next step of my work."