Couric Watch

Katie Couric‘s deal with ABC is one of the most unique arrangements in TV today. It was crucial to Couric that any pact have a news component to it. But in its uniqueness there are many questions about how it will all work. Here are just some of the questions and the answers from ABC sources:

What is her role with ABC News?

Katie’s main mission is to create and launch a successful syndicated show. In the run up to launch, she will join the ABC News team and bring her many talents to bear on some of the most important and interesting stories of our time. After the syndicated show launches, she will continue to play a role at ABC News.

When will she start at ABC News?

Katie joins the ABC News team immediately and will begin to contribute this summer.

Will her role at ABC News change when the syndicated show begins?

Certainly the syndicated show will be Katie’s primary focus but we are thrilled that there will be great synergies between the show and the news division.

How frequently will she appear on ABC News?

Read more

After months of negotiation and speculation, Katie Couric‘s next stop will be ABC, where she got her start as a desk assistant in 1979. ABC announced that Couric, the former CNN and NBC reporter, “Today” show co-anchor and the first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast — at CBS News — is moving to the world of syndication in a deal with Disney/ABC that also calls for contributions to ABC News beginning this summer.

Couric’s as-yet untitled syndicated show — which already has late afternoon clearance on the 8 ABC O&O’s — will begin in the fall of 2012 and will be executive produced by former NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker.

“It is tremendously exciting to have the creative freedom to develop my own show with Anne Sweeney and Jeff, and to contribute to such a vibrant, innovative news division,” said Couric.

In a note to staff, ABC News president Ben Sherwood writes, “While her primary mission will be to create and launch the new show, Katie is also joining our team at ABC News this summer, bringing her many talents to some of the most important and interesting stories of the day.”

Couric is in Los Angeles this morning — and will be on “The Tonight Show” tonight — as the deal was announced by Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group and Co-Chair of Disney Media Networks.

In her statement, Sweeney acknowledged Couric’s role with the news division: “Katie Couric is one of television’s iconic figures and we are thrilled to have forged such an exciting partnership with her. We look forward to having Katie join the best News team in the business, and to working with her to create a dynamic and successful talk show franchise.”

“I’ve known Katie for 14 years,” Sherwood writes, “and even with all of her success, I’m confident that her best days, biggest scoops and most powerful journalism lie directly ahead.”

Sherwood’s memo, and the news release from ABC, after the jump…

Read more

The Katie Couric saga continues. Now that the former “CBS Evening News” anchor has left the Tiffany network, all signs point to her signing a deal with ABC for a syndicated show, as well as some regular appearances on ABC News programs.

The latest comes from The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, who notes that ABC changed its offer to Couric, effectively giving her control of her daytime show… and a larger piece of the revenue should it become a hit.

Under the multi-year proposal now on the table, Couric would have almost total ownership of the venture—giving her the potential to make far more than her $15 million-a-year anchor salary.

Read more

This morning, the billboard on CBS’s West 57th St. Broadcast Center featuring Katie Couric was removed and replaced with one that is an ensemble of CBS News anchors, reporters and programs, as Couric has now officially left the building.

Signage inside featuring Couric has also been replaced, say insiders.

The show will simply be called the “CBS Evening News” until Scott Pelley takes over on June 6. Radio News reports CBS Radio News has revamped its “Katie Couric’s Notebook” feature with the new “Reporter’s Notebook” with contributions from Bob Schieffer, Lara Logan, Anthony Mason, John Blackstone and Chip Reid.

Another interesting note, in the 56 largest U.S. markets, the so-called Metered Markets, Couric’s final “Evening News” delivered a 3.8 overnight rating. By contrast, her former show NBC’s “Today” yesterday drew a 4.0 rating.

Here’s how the Katie Couric era at CBS News, just shy of five years, came to a close:

• And here’s how Couric ended her first “Evening News” broadcast, Sept. 5, 2006.

After the jump, how her competitors, who could soon be her colleagues, said goodbye…

Read more

Katie Couric is in Washington, DC wrapping up her final CBS Evening News interview. Couric is talking with Secy. of State Hillary Clinton about Pres. Obama’s speech on Middle East policy. She’ll return to New York to anchor her final show which will include a piece titled, “Five Minutes in Five Years” looking back at some of the big moments she has covered while at CBS News – highlights from “Evening News, “60 Minutes,” her web show @katiecouric, and “Sunday Morning.”

Colleagues will give her a champagne toast following tonight’s broadcast in the CBS newsroom. We’ll have pictures later.

Tomorrow and for the next two weeks, CBS News plans to have Erica Hill and Harry Smith and others fill in until Scott Pelley takes over the show on June 6.

As Couric finishes her tour on “Evening News” her competitors are out of town. ABC’s Diane Sawyer has the day off, David Muir is filling in. And NBC’s Brian Williams will anchor “Nightly News” from NBC’s Burbank bureau as he takes part in “Education Nation Los Angeles.”

Katie Couric has just four more “Evening News” broadcasts left. As she announced last night that next Thursday will be her final broadcast, Couric added, “That night we’ll take a look back at some of the amazing stories we’ve covered over the past five years.”

As Couric was announcing her departure date, a few blocks away David Letterman was including her in his monologue. “Katie Couric… after five years of being the face of CBS News, is leaving … So that means that here at CBS, Andy Rooney is now the perkiest person.”

First on: TVNewser has learned Katie Couric‘s final “Evening News” broadcast will be next Thursday, May 19. Couric will make the announcement tonight on the show. Last night was the final broadcast for her executive producer, Rick Kaplan. Couric’s contract with CBS runs until June 4. A source tells TVNewser, no further announcement about Couric’s future is immediately forthcoming.

Today’s news means three of the biggest names in all host-dom will be departing their programs within a three-week span.

Katie Couric's final "Evening News" is May 19.

Oprah Winfrey's final show is May 25.

Meredith Vieira's final "Today" show is June 8.

Katie Couric will be departing in a couple weeks, but today was “CBS Evening News” EP Rick Kaplan‘s final show. Earlier in the day we reported where he’s going next — to ABC News as EP of “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.” Here’s how Couric signed off tonight:

And before we leave you tonight, we want to take a moment to wish our executive producer, Rick Kaplan, the very best. This is his last broadcast at CBS News .. and while we could go on, as Rick has told me many times .. we’re tight on time. So from all of us at CBS News…THANK YOU, Rick…goodnight and good luck.

After the show, there was a gathering in the newsroom where artist Peter Max presented a drawing of Kaplan he’d created — a gift from the Evening News staff. We’re told staffers, including Couric, then headed across W. 57th St. to CBS watering hole Jake’s Saloon for cocktails.

Couric and Kaplan could be reunited at ABC. Couric is weighing a deal at Disney/ABC for a syndicated daytime show along with contributions to ABC News. Couric’s contract with CBS ends early next month.

Katie Couric continues to spread her wings, busting out of the evening news anchor mode and conducting an interview in Glamour magazine, with fellow tvnewser Rachel Maddow.

COURIC: What do you think is most surprising about working in cable news?

MADDOW: I don’t know. I feel different talking to you about this than I would to anyone else. So my answer to anyone who’s not Katie Couric… [Addressing Katie] Can you not listen?

COURIC: [Laughs.] Earmuffs!

MADDOW: I was going to say that what’s weird about cable is that people get really engaged with news hosts as brands. But I guess that was really a hallmark of your career, too, on the networks. No matter what you’re talking about, people wanted to know more about what you thought about it, because they are interested in you as a person.

COURIC: It’s a hinky balance, no?

MADDOW: Yes. And I don’t want to insert myself into the story. I just want to give a useful analysis of it to help people come to their own conclusions. It’s why I have a conveyor belt of gray blazers—I try to look exactly the same every day.

COURIC: Do you consider yourself a journalist, or a commentator?

Read more