Pauley Hopes to Swap ‘Today’ Role for Prime Time : Television: NBC sources say that the co-anchor was offended by the way the network handled Deborah Norville’s promotion.

Jane Pauley, upset with recent changes at the “Today” show, is planning to leave the early-morning program but will stay at NBC, sources at the network said Wednesday.

Pauley, who celebrated her 13th anniversary as a “Today” co-anchor Wednesday, is expected to leave in early 1990 to begin work on other projects, possibly including a prime-time news program. Deborah Norville, who joined the show last August as news anchor, is the most likely replacement as co-anchor with Bryant Gumbel.

NBC News executives, who have been meeting with Pauley and her agent during the last several weeks, would not comment on the network’s plans for her. The network issued a statement Wednesday confirming that Pauley “will be staying on with NBC News” and saying that an announcement about specifics would be forthcoming.

Pauley was unavailable for comment. But she had made her unhappiness known last month, when she met with NBC News President Michael G. Gartner and reportedly asked to negotiate the termination of her contract. Gartner turned that request down, and they have been discussing other options.

Pauley’s expected departure comes at a time when “Today” has seen the addition of new layers of executive management and rumors of infighting among its on-air talent. One of her concerns was said to be the uncertainty surrounding the program, which is getting a new senior executive producer in January.

Although Pauley said in a previous interview with The Times that Norville was not “the centerpiece” of her discussions with NBC, “Today” sources said that she was offended by the way the network handled the promotion of Norville, seemingly at Pauley’s expense.

Norville, a former Chicago anchorwoman who is touted as a new star by NBC executives, recently was signed to an estimated $1-million-a-year salary and was given a larger role as “Today” news anchor than the man she replaced, John Palmer. She was seated next to Pauley, Gumbel and Willard Scott in an tight-looking coffee klatch.

“They pushed them all together in this uncomfortable way,” one staffer said. “They made it clear that Norville was the new kid on the block.”

Dick Ebersol, the new NBC executive in charge of “Today,” was said by sources on the show to have promoted Norville in an effort to appeal to younger audiences. Although “Today” remains the top-rated morning-news program, ABC’s “Good Morning America” recently has been narrowing the gap, particularly among younger viewers.

There had been speculation that Pauley might jump to “CBS This Morning,” the third-ranked morning news program. But Pauley, who has two more years to go on her contract, would not be free now to negotiate with CBS or any other network, sources said, unless NBC released her. “There’s no way that NBC would want her to take her ratings points to the competition,” one executive noted.

At the same time, sources close to Pauley said that she was wearying of the current flap over “Today” and wanted a graceful exit.