NBC has ousted Tom Touchet as executive producer of "Today" in favor of 15-year NBC Sports veteran Jim Bell, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

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While rival ABC's "Good Morning America" has pulled within 600,000 viewers of "Today's" 6 million average, former "Today" producer Steve Friedman said the more likely reason for Touchet's ouster is that one of four top people at NBC had "lost confidence" in his ability.

The big four are NBC Universal President Jeffrey Zucker, NBC News President Neal Shapiro and "Today" hosts Katie Couric and Matt Lauer, Friedman said.

Bell, a 15-year veteran of NBC Sports and coordinating producer of the network's Olympics unit, will be named as Touchet's successor, an unnamed NBC executive told the newspaper.

"Today" is NBC's cash cow with $300 million in profits last year -- equal to that of the daytime, primetime, late night and news divisions combined, Broadcasting & Cable reported.