I've known Tom Merritt for more than a decade - since the grand old days at TechTV. He's a trusted colleague and I consider him a dear friend. When Tom moved to LA last year we agreed to try having him anchor his shows from Southern California via Skype. We've been mostly happy with the result, but I've always felt that TWiT had lost something by not having Tom's leadership in the studio with us.

After some soul searching, I've decided that we do need an in-studio anchor for Tech News Today, and a News Director who can help us build the kind of organization you can count on for authoritative tech news and information.

So it's with a heavy heart that I'm announcing that we're not going to renew Tom's contract as host of TNT. His last show will be at the end of the month.

We will all miss him. I know he'll continue his brilliant career from LA. As you probably know, Tom and Veronica Belmont will be bringing Sword and Laser, their fantastic sci-fi podcast, to the Boing Boing network.

The superb team Tom has built for TNT, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar, and Jason Howell, will continue with the show, and you have my commitment that the standard Tom has set for authoritative, informative, and entertaining programming will continue on our network. I am sure you are all as sad about this announcement as I am. We all wish Tom continued success in everything he does.

Leo