“Fuse News,” a new music and pop culture news program being produced by former ABC, CBS and CNN executive Rick Kaplan, will debut on the cable channel at 8 PM tonight. “ET Canada” contributor Matte Babel and former MTV host Alexa Chung will anchor the new program.

With the Grammy Awards on Sunday, previewing the event will be the top story on the show this week.

“We think there is a tremendous opportunity for Fuse News to fill a void and become the trusted, go-to destination for music fans,” said Kaplan in a statement.

More information after the jump.
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In his farewell note to staff, departing NBC News president Steve Capus writes, “I have much I hope to accomplish in the next phase of my career.” So, too, do the men and women vying to replace Capus. Capus says NBCU News group Chairman Pat Fili-Krushel “will be meeting with people throughout the division, and articulating her vision for the NBCUniversal News Group.”

There are strong internal candidates, some of whom, it has been announced by Fili-Krushel, will take on additional duties. Alex Wallace (above, right), who oversees “Today,” and “Rock Center” will now oversee “Nightly News,” where she was once EP. Wallace, who’s been with NBC since 2005, would be the first female news president after nine men have held the job since 1968.

Phil Griffin will likely be considered for the job. As president of MSNBC for the last 4 and a half years he has given the network an identity and boosted ratings, consistently topping CNN — a network his close friend Jeff Zucker now runs. A front office and internal concern would be the progressive programming on the network, often not in line with NBC News standards. Mark Hoffman, president of CNBC, cannot be ruled out. Nor can Capus’ deputy, Antoine Sanfuentes, (above, left) who will run day-to-day in the interim.

External candidates are also plentiful…

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Rick Kaplan, the former CBS, ABC, CNN and MSNBC executive, has a new beat these days. He’s creating a new music news show for the Fuse Network.

Kaplan left ABC News this summer when he launched Kaplan Media Partners. The veteran producer and news executive is working with networks and programs, both news and entertainment. His client list so far includes HBO where he is working as a creative consultant on Aaron Sorkin‘s “Newsroom.”

But Kaplan is particularly energized by the Fuse gig. He is launching a show called Fuse News. “It’s a daily news program about the music business — entertainers, acts, events and new trends,” says Kaplan calling it, “A serious attempt to cover the music business.” Kaplan a former president of CNN and later MSNBC, was most recently the executive producer of the “CBS Evening News” and — in his second stint with ABC — was EP of “This Week.”

Fuse is owned by MSG Inc. which was spun off from Cablevision in 2010 and is run by music lover and Cablevision scion James Dolan. Knowing that it has the backing of the top boss should tell you this news, is serious business.

Perhaps best of all, Kaplan is hiring — and fast. The network is planning to shoot pilots next month, with a launch in January or early February. “We’re looking for producers, associate producers,” says Kaplan. “We’re looking for great camera people who can edit. This is the real deal.”

If you’re interested drop Kaplan a line at his email here.

Friends and colleagues from across the TV spectrum joined Andy Rooney‘s four children this morning at Rose Hall, bidding farewell to the CBS News essayist, who died November 4 following complications from minor surgery.

Rooney’s son Brian Rooney, a longtime correspondent at ABC News, hosted the memorial service which included remarks from Andy Rooney’s three daughters, Ellen Rooney, Emily Rooney and Martha Fishel and Rooney’s girlfriend of 7 years, former “Today” show “girl” Beryl Pfizer, who had known Rooney since 1950. Rooney’s grandchildren were there, including Justin Fishel Pentagon producer for Fox News Channel.

Brian Rooney talked about how, over the past several weeks he’s gone through his father’s belongings and found everything from a $6,000 uncashed check from CBS, to a diary entry dated March 8, 1941: “Went to Gallagher’s. Don’t get chicken at a steakhouse.”

“What you saw, was the same show that we had at dinnertime,” said Rooney.

CBS News chairman and “60 Minutes” EP Jeff Fager as well as Rooney’s “60″ family: Morley Safer, Steve Kroft and Scott Pelley all spoke at the service.

Safer talked of Rooney’s “rich, eccentric legacy.” A man who filled American homes “like a piece of the Sunday furniture, like a portrait on the wall, like the TV itself.”

Safer then introduced a video which included outtakes of his interview with Rooney conducted last Spring. Showing a picture of the early correspondents: Harry Reasoner, Mike Wallace and Diane Sawyer, Rooney stopped at Sawyer — who was not able to attend. “She’s the prettiest girl I

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As George Stephanopoulos prepares a return to moderating “This Week,” the Sunday public affairs show is also getting a new Executive Producer.

Former “World News” EP Jon Banner (left), who recently moved to the role of Senior Executive Producer for division wide initiatives, has been named EP of “This Week” effective January 8, when Stephanopoulos returns. It is a return to “This Week” for Banner who led the show from 2000-2003.

Current EP Rick Kaplan (right) remains with ABC overseeing ABC’s New Hampshire debate next Saturday. Kaplan returned for his third stint at ABC in May, after a four year run as EP of the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.”  ABC News president Ben Sherwood calls it “a sensible time to make this move.” Kaplan will also take on other projects and continue to play a big role in ABC’s election year coverage.

Sherwood’s note to the staff, after the jump…

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The news yesterday that Christiane Amanpour would be stepping aside from ABC’s “This Week” did not take many TV news professionals by surprise. Despite a highly-publicized launch, and a decidedly different take on the Sunday public affairs format, the program largely failed to resonate with viewers from the very start.

Amanpour debuted on ABC August 1, 2010, and that month the program finished a solid #2 behind NBC’s “Meet the Press,” before fizzling out. Over the next year and a half, the program would only occasionally dip into second place, and even then it was often in the key news demo of adults 25-54, rather than total viewers.

The highlight for Amanpour’s run came earlier this year, when the “Arab Spring” protests and the devastating tsunami in Japan became big news here in the U.S.

Amanpour’s experience as a foreign correspondent shined during those events, and led “This Week” to some of its highest ratings under her stewardship, though the program still found itself third most weeks. The most-watched “This Week” during her run came the week after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot, though all of the Sunday shows saw large ratings bumps, and ABC’s program still placed third.

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Longtime CBS News executive Lane Venardos was fondly remembered Wednesday in a moving service at the Paley Center in New York City.

Venardos who died August 19 at his home in Maui, spent 30 years at CBS News producing live news, special events and documentaries. He would go on to produce the “Survivor” live finales for Mark Burnett on CBS.

More than 200 luminaries from across the television industry attended the memorial, including CBS News chairman Jeff Fager, News president David Rhodes; Charles Osgood, Scott Pelley, Bob Schieffer, Lesley Stahl, and Rita Braver; current “CBS Evening News” EP Pat Shevlin, CBS News VP Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews (who currently has the job Venardos once held) and “Sunday Morning” EP Rand Morrison.

Also Diane Sawyer, now with ABC News, who worked with Venardos during her time at CBS and from NBC: Brian Williams, News president Steve Capus and former CBSer, now EP of “Rock Center” Rome Hartman, were there, as was former CBS News president Andrew Heyward. ABC’s “This Week” EP Rick Kaplan, and former “GMA” boss Jim Murphy, both former CBS Newsers, attended.

Former CBS News and CBS, Inc. president Howard Stringer, who worked closely with Venardos during his years at CBS and who is now CEO of Sony, spoke via video. Other speakers included Pelley, Stahl, Williams and Venardos’s daughter Kelly who is a producer for “NBC Nightly News.” CBS News “48 Hours” EP Susan Zirinsky presented a video tribute (after the jump). The service concluded with a vocal solo performed by Venardos’s son, Kevin.

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There is no trick involved in tonight’s Halloween treat for Boomer news junkies — Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts really are co-anchors again.

The hosts of ABC’s ‘This Week’ from 1996 to ’02, Donaldson and Roberts have reunited to front ‘Primary Issues,’ a four-part election series that launches tonight at 9pmET on RLTV. It continues each night through Thursday.

Donaldson and Roberts will host from Washington, with business journalist Consuelo Mack in New York and former ‘Today’ regular John Palmer in the field. Ben Stein will provide commentary.

Donaldson, 77, who owns a ranch in New Mexico, says it was easy to get back in the saddle with Roberts, 67.

“Cokie and I have a mutual respect,” he tells TVNewser. “One of the problems with co-anchors is that jealousies sometimes show up on the air. I can’t deny that I’ve had some of that in the past, but never with Cokie. We never had a dispute. We shared everything.”

A 42-year ABC veteran, Donaldson works mostly in the radio division. He just re-upped with

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After eight years at the helm of “ABC World News,” Jon Banner will be moving off of the program to a division-wide role. Banner will become senior EP of division wide initiatives, where he will have oversight over many of the networks special projects. He will also continue to oversee ABC’s political coverage. Banner first joined ABC news as a desk assistant in 1989.

“For years, Jon has been one of the rocks of ABC News, helping to hold the division together during the twin traumas of Peter’s death and Bob’s wounding in Iraq,” write ABC News president Ben Sherwood in a memo to staff.

In his place at “World News,” Michael Corn will become EP. Corn had been senior producer on the broadcast.

“I came to know Michael well during my tenure at Good Morning America – we worked closely at all hours of the day and night – and I am confident that his energy, creativity, competitive zeal and news judgment will lead the program to new heights,” Sherwood wrote.

With Banner’s departure, all three network evening newscasts will end the year with different executive producers than they had when they began the year. In July, Bob Epstein left “NBC Nightly News” to an executive role, while Rick Kaplan left CBS News in May following Katie Couric‘s departure.

Sherwood’s full memo is after the jump.

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ABC News unveiled redesigned election graphics, along with a new slogan, this morning on “Good Morning America”: “Your Voice, Your Vote 2012.”

ABC’s previous election coverage has long been branded only as “Vote” — “Vote 2008″ and “Vote 2010,” for example — and more closely resembled the NBC and CBS slogans, which are “Decision 2012″ and “Campaign 2012,” respectively.

“We believe that this new branding of our election coverage will be more engaging for our viewers,” Rick Kaplan, executive producer of “This Week,” told Politico. “It makes a clear statement about our coverage of politics and the mission of ABC News heading into 2012, which is to provide viewers with the big picture understanding they need to make informed decisions at the ballot box.”