The Seattle Times is reporting Robert Mak, whose political affairs show was recently canceled by KING, will be leaving the Seattle NBC affiliate.

Mak was offered the chance to stay with the station after his weekly show “Up Front with Robert Mak” was canceled.  “I appreciate the offer to stay, and after considering it seriously I simply decided it was time to start something new,” Mak told the Times.

Mak also said he hoped to stay in Seattle, “I have a lot of ideas and interests that I would like to pursue, but I’m keeping an open mind.”

Last week TVSpy reported KING executive news director Mark Ginther attributed the loss of Mak’s show to a slowdown in advertising revenue that forced the station to make cuts throughout the newsroom.

Seattle NBC affiliate KING has announced the cancellation of “Up Front with Robert Mak,” the station’s weekly political affairs program. The show’s last broadcast will be Sunday.

KING executive news director Mark Ginther said that a slowdown in advertising revenue has forced the station to make cuts throughout the newsroom. Seven newsroom positions were eliminated last month “through layoffs and the elimination of several already vacant positions,” the station says.

Mak (pictured) will continue to lead the station’s political coverage, and the show’s producer, Mike Cate, will continue to produce politics.

“We will continue the award-winning coverage we have given to political and public interest programming in our more than eight and a half hours of local news and, from time to time, we will run Up Front as specials when events demand,” KING general manager Ray Heacox said in a statement.