Murder, lies and videotape

NBC has emerged as the front-runner in the scramble for the first interview with Casey Anthony.

Anthony's lawyer Jose Baez -- who was in New York for several days this week quietly meeting with network reps -- is saying any TV appearance is at least six to nine months away, according to sources familiar with the talks.

It was not clear yesterday if Anthony is asking to be paid for an interview -- a move that would likely set off a public outrage.

But media insiders yesterday indicated that NBC had picked up the tab for Baez's trip here.

A spokeswoman for NBC News last night said she did not have enough information to comment.

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FRENZY: Media outlets anxiously await the release of a tape of Casey Anthony learning about the discovery of her daughter's body.

Anthony is set to be released from the jail in Florida where she'd been held for three years Sunday morning, according to authorities speaking on background.

News cameras have been set up at all the local airports in the expectation that she will be immediately hustled on-board a waiting airplane.

Since the controversial, not-guilty verdict last week in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, Anthony has been getting scores of death threats.

It appears that Florida authorities are allowing her to leave the state for her own safety -- but her destination is still unknown.

Meanwhile, the media frenzy over the Anthony case shows no signs of cooling down.

The cable news channels are hot on the trail of a potentially explosive jail-house video showing Anthony freaking out after learning cops had found the body of a child -- later identified as Caylee.

The judge in the murder case did not allow the jury to see the tape because it was deemed "highly inflammatory."

In the video, shot in December 2008, Anthony allegedly doubles over and hyperventilates when told that the remains of a young child had been discovered in a swampy area near the home she shared with her family, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Eight days later, the remains were positively identified as Caylee.

The release of the video "rests with the judge who sat on the case," says WKMG VP/GM Skip Valet, which has been in the lead trying to get the video released.

"Obviously, with the [Anthony] trial now over, we are the eyes and ears of the public, and we have a responsibility to look at [the video] for the public record," Valet says.

"We don't know what the video shows, and we have no idea if it will be newsworthy or not until we view it."