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Katie Couric to leave ABC joining Yahoo!

The sooner she's off in Chicago, the better. Thanks to ABC, ABC O&O WLS-TV was forced to move 2 successful syndicated shows out of the 3 & 3:30 pm timeslots, in order to make room for Katie. Since 1983, Jeopardy had been on at 3:30pm, & Inside Edition on at 3pm since 1988. Last year, they got moved to the 2 & 2:30pm timeslots. I hope ABC Domestic Television doesn't create another daytime talk show that practically makes stations air it at the same time in all markets, like they did with Katie. ABC signed all 8 of their O&O stations to carry Katie last season, & mandated all their stations to carry her at 3pm. I doubt it paid off for WLS-TV, as Inside Edition & Jeopardy did well for them, & carried the viewers into the 4pm newscast, while I believe Katie has not. At least affiliates outside of ABC O&O stations that got special clauses in their contract, that they were able to move Katie to a less desirable timeslot, if their ratings suffered. ABC forced all 8 of their stations to commit to the 3pm timeslot, regardless of ratings. With Oprah, I don't know if Kingworld (later CBS Distribution) mandated most stations to carry her show at 3 or 4pm, but in most markets outside of Chicago, Oprah was on at 3 or 4pm in most markets, while Oprah was on at 9am, until 2011 on WLS-TV in Chicago.
 
Looks like more 4PM newscasts for me...Katie is on at 3PM on KING, if she goes off, my prediction is that Ellen goes to 3 and news goes to 4 to compete with KOMO and KCPQ....

-crainbebo
 
My guess is her daytime show will be canceled as well. I'd like to see more game shows, but I'm sure ABC will want another talk show.

ABC should probably try to get Mario Lopez a talk show then. He is gaining popularity and it'd fit with the ABC/Univision venture, but him or any replacement to Katie in the talk show area wouldn't happen until a year after Katie is canceled. So, next year could be interesting. Maybe a number of ABC O&Os will pick up People's Court or something low key until the following year when something by ABC Domestic gets launched.
 
As much as Katie Couric has been hopping around for the past few years, she has become damaged goods. That said, I can't say that ABC really ever did that much with her. Remember, her talk show is syndicated. It airs on the NBC affiliate here in Nashville. But they apparently did some time-shifting with her here as well. Two years ago, Dr. Oz was on at 3:00, then Katie was on at 3:00 last year, with Dr. Oz pushed ahead an hour to 2:00 p.m., now they have traded timeslots, and Dr. Oz is back to being on at 3:00 p.m.
 
So this either represents the growth of new media (streaming video) or the decline and fall of Katie.

I don't think she'll have to negotiate very hard. I bet ABC is happy to see her go. The negotiations probably are about how much she can get out of ABC for not working there any more.
 
They need someone to replace Barbara Walters on her annual specials, like pre-Oscar and year-end most fascinating people. Katie would be perfect for that.
 
Hopefully in some capacity other than anchor of the "CBS Evening News." Yeah, I know she won a couple of prestigious awards but there was no chance of her ever beating either Brian Williams or Diane Sawyer. The one who could, IMO, didn't want the job: Bob Schieffer. And I'd be willing to bet that the evening-news race would be really tight if Schieffer had taken Dan Rather's place and Charlie Gibson not chosen to retire.

I do agree, though, that Katie could have done for ABC what Barbara Walters has done for nearly 40 years with her primetime specials.
 
bpatrick said:
I do agree, though, that Katie could have done for ABC what Barbara Walters has done for nearly 40 years with her primetime specials.
Click to expand...

ABC can just get Robin Roberts to do them.

There is also Lara Spencer as a backup. She is likeable like Robin. While Lara might be more entertainment/fluff now at GMA, she'll probably grow into her role at ABC to cover more than that, as well. And anyways, those Barbara Walter specials were more fluff than anything like 60 Minutes.

Atleast these ladies are on the payroll already for other duties at ABC, and are pretty likeable. There are others including the ladies of The View, and Elizabeth Vargas.

Or, maybe ABC can hire Ann Curry :)
 
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WSOC has aired Katie on a one-day delay at 10 am since Day 1.
 
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