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Katie Couric May Have To Make Her Decision Very, Very Soon

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
Given that this morning (December 5th), ABC News promoted Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff to co-anchor "World News Tonight" as of January 3rd, CBS News will probably have to decide pretty quickly what to do about their "CBS Evening News", on which Bob Schieffer has been anchoring on an interim basis since this past March.

There has been much published speculation that NBC "Today" co-hostess Katie Couric has been approached about taking the "CBS Evening News" anchor chair. Some gossip on the Internet has claimed that Couric has been offered $100 million over four years ($25 million a year) to make the switch. This would almost double her reported current salary at NBC ($13 million a year; the highest in television news).

CBS does not want to seem indecisive, especially since both ABC and NBC now have new "long-term" anchors in place. They need to decide what to do about the "Evening News" anchor desk, and they have to make that decision now.

And by "Now", I mean that CBS will have to decide within a week or two who will take over the "Evening News" and make that announcement public as soon as possible after it is made.

I could see CBS offering money to NBC to let Couric out of her contract early (it is due to expire on or around May 31st), but there is one stumbling block to that: The Winter Olympics (February 10th-26th). "Today" will originate from Turin (Torino), Italy during the Games, and even if Couric is leaving, NBC may want her to have one last "road trip" with "Today".

But if Couric ends up staying at NBC until the end of February, and is allowed to leave right after the Olympics, she wouldn't be able to start at the CBS "Evening News" any sooner than (perhaps) April 27th (the start of the May sweeps). By that time, Woodruff and Vargas will have been the "long-term" anchors of "WNT" for nearly four months.

CBS might not want to wait that long.

Could CBS offer to pay NBC to let Couric out of her contract in the next few weeks, so she could start sooner??

In any event, I think Couric will make up her mind and announce that decision by the end of this week (December 5th-9th). And unless she has incredible loyality to NBC, and is willing to stay there for $15-$16 million a year (perhaps $17 million a year at the very outside), she'll be moving to CBS.

This is a link to an article on Broadcasting and Cable.com (registration may be requried) about whether Couric will stay or go.
 
Does CBS really want Kaite Couric, and replace one black eye (Dan Rather) with another? Katie just got a black eye by not covering the balloon accident at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which CBS covered during their coverage. Katie's been getting tons of negative press over the incident. Does CBS really want to add her to their baggage? <P ID="signature">______________
In Harmony
From the Bop Shop,
Brian "BD Bopper"</P>
 
Katie Couric is the biggest "name" out there.

That's why CBS is reportdely agressively pursuing her.

She's certainly a much bigger "name" than Scott Pelley, John Roberts (the CBS newsman, not the Supreme Court Chief Justice), or Aaron Brown.
 
> Does CBS really want Kaite Couric, and replace one black eye
> (Dan Rather) with another? Katie just got a black eye by
> not covering the balloon accident at the Thanksgiving Day
> Parade, which CBS covered during their coverage. Katie's
> been getting tons of negative press over the incident. Does
> CBS really want to add her to their baggage?

What CBS would see would be Katie doing what she was told by the NBC people who made the decision not to cover the accident.

You are confusing misguided negative press with employer loyalty. CBS would, all else equal, like an anchor who follows orders.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> > Does CBS really want Kaite Couric, and replace one black
> eye
> > (Dan Rather) with another? Katie just got a black eye by
> > not covering the balloon accident at the Thanksgiving Day
> > Parade, which CBS covered during their coverage. Katie's
> > been getting tons of negative press over the incident.
> Does
> > CBS really want to add her to their baggage?
>
> What CBS would see would be Katie doing what she was told by
> the NBC people who made the decision not to cover the
> accident.
>
> You are confusing misguided negative press with employer
> loyalty. CBS would, all else equal, like an anchor who
> follows orders.
>
And I'm kinda sorry I posted the whole thing about the Balloon incident to begin with. I was unware that it was taped coverage, not a news event. And this had NOTHING to do with Katie Couric.

Now, can we please move on?
And, for the record, I happen to think Couric would be the wrong choice for CBS News (think Connie Chung). Also, these were rumored before the change at the top at CBS News. They have someone new in charge, so who knows if they even want her anymore.

But as usual, some people are making posts based on speculation. Just like the "speculation" about The West Wing... So why don't we wait until there's an announcement before making guesses, hm?
 
> Katie Couric is the biggest "name" out there.
>
> That's why CBS is reportdely agressively pursuing her.
>
> She's certainly a much bigger "name" than Scott Pelley, John
> Roberts (the CBS newsman, not the Supreme Court Chief
> Justice), or Aaron Brown.
>

Really?
According to what poll?

If you ask me, Anderson Cooper, or Shepard Smith are pretty big names, but I don't see anyone talking about them.

So why do you keep bringing up Couric?
 
> > > Does CBS really want Kaite Couric, and replace one black
>
> > eye
> > > (Dan Rather) with another? Katie just got a black eye
> by
> > > not covering the balloon accident at the Thanksgiving
> Day
> > > Parade, which CBS covered during their coverage.
> Katie's
> > > been getting tons of negative press over the incident.
> > Does
> > > CBS really want to add her to their baggage?
> >
> > What CBS would see would be Katie doing what she was told
> by
> > the NBC people who made the decision not to cover the
> > accident.
> >
> > You are confusing misguided negative press with employer
> > loyalty. CBS would, all else equal, like an anchor who
> > follows orders.
> >
> And I'm kinda sorry I posted the whole thing about the
> Balloon incident to begin with. I was unware that it was
> taped coverage, not a news event. And this had NOTHING to do
> with Katie Couric.
>
> Now, can we please move on?
> And, for the record, I happen to think Couric would be the
> wrong choice for CBS News (think Connie Chung). Also, these
> were rumored before the change at the top at CBS News. They
> have someone new in charge, so who knows if they even want
> her anymore.
>
> But as usual, some people are making posts based on
> speculation. Just like the "speculation" about The West
> Wing... So why don't we wait until there's an announcement
> before making guesses, hm?
>

Many people on this board like to speculate and discuss. Nothing wrong with that.
 
> > Katie Couric is the biggest "name" out there.
> >
> > That's why CBS is reportdely agressively pursuing her.
> >
> > She's certainly a much bigger "name" than Scott Pelley,
> John
> > Roberts (the CBS newsman, not the Supreme Court Chief
> > Justice), or Aaron Brown.
> >
>
> Really?
> According to what poll?

We don't need a poll. She is a big name, but so are other reporters.
>
> If you ask me, Anderson Cooper, or Shepard Smith are pretty
> big names, but I don't see anyone talking about them.

There's not much about them to talk about right now!
>
> So why do you keep bringing up Couric?
>

She's in the spotlight! There is lots of speculations, discussions, and reports about the possibility of Couric moving to CBS. Have you been paying attention to the news and these threads?
 
><a target="_blank" href=http://tmz.aol.com/article1?id=20051205144709990001>http://tmz.aol.com/article1?id=20051205144709990001</a>
CBS has nothing to lose. So they overpay for Katie. Everything is fluid at 6:30 now. They at the same time disrupt the Today show,match Couric against Vargas, have her do some morning gigs,and revamp the am show. Why not?
 
Jeff Zucker (NBC Universal's TV Group prez) was just interviewed on CNBC about various NBC-related issues, one of which was the Katie Couric thing; he basically said it's up to her but there's no real hurry about the whole thing. No specific date or deadline was brought up.

Also, Zucker said now many past and present NBC shows are available through iTunes; no timetable set on the beginning of the next Apprentice until after the Winter Olympics air; gains/strength in ratings in cable channels have offset NBC's current ratings performance.

I didn't catch the whole interview...didn't know it was going to be on at the time.
 
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