“Steve Harvey,” the one-hour talk show hosted by, well, Steve Harvey, has now been sold in 70% of the country.

NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution announced today that the show, which is set to debut next fall and has already been sold to NBC, Fox, CBS, Hearst and others, was recently purchased by a handful of station groups including Gannett, Gray, and Post Newsweek.

“‘Steve Harvey’ is the most versatile show to come to daytime syndication in a long time and the response that we have received in the marketplace in the past several weeks has been phenomenal,” NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution president Barry Wallach said in a statement.  “This new talk show has a unique appeal in daytime as Steve’s comedic approach to a wide array of relatable topics attracts a broad audience and allows all affiliates to benefit from his popularity.”

Katie Couric’s nationally syndicated talk show, “Katie,” has now been cleared in more than 80% of the nation.

Disney-ABC Domestic Television announced it has gotten clearances for early fringe time periods from broadcast groups including Granite, Griffin, Media General, Meredith, Raycom and Sinclair.

The most recent “Katie” clearances include KSTP (ABC) Minneapolis, WEWS (ABC) Cleveland, KMOV (CBS) St. Louis, KGW (NBC) Portland, WSMV (NBC) Nashville, WCMH (NBC) Columbus, KSL (NBC) Salt Lake City, WLOS (ABC) Greenville/Asheville, KSAT (ABC) San Antonio, WZZM (ABC) Grand Rapids and WBMA (ABC) Birmingham, among others.

The one-hour daily daytime talk show debuts in September. “Katie” will be produced in conjunction with Disney-ABC, and former NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker will be the executive producer.

Miami ABC-affiliate WPLG is returning local news to its 5 p.m. time slot.

After scrapping its 5 o’clock newscast in favor of “Dr. Phil” a few years ago, the Post-Newsweek station is set to debut a new 5 p.m. show on August 22nd.

Calvin Hughes and Laurie Jennings (right), WPLG’s team at 6 and 11, will be behind the anchor desk from 5:00 to 5:30, with Jen Herrerra subbing for Jennings during the last half-hour.

In a recent phone conversation with TVSpy, WPLG vice president and general manager Dave Boylan said the programming shift comes down to dollars and cents.

“5 p.m. newscasts make sense given today’s economy,” Boylan said. Read more

KHOU is set to debut a new newscast on August 1st in the 4 p.m. time slot long held by Oprah.

The Houston CBS-affiliate announced this week that it is adding a half-hour newscast at 4 p.m., which will be followed by “Jeopardy” at 4:30. KHOU has been airing repeats of “Oprah” in the 4 p.m. time slot since the daytime queen’s departure in May.

“KHOU 11 News at 4 gives us a chance to bring viewers the big news of the day, while the stories are still developing,” said Philip Bruce, KHOU’s executive news director. “It’ll be immediate, fast-paced and plugged-in to what’s happening at the moment.”

The 4 p.m. newscast will be anchored by Len Cannon, who will continue co-anchoring the station’s 6 p.m. newscast.

KHOU’s announcement means that stations in six of the top 10 markets have now replaced “Oprah” with local news (New York’s WABC, Chicago’s WLS, Philadelphia’s WPVI, San Francisco’s KGO, and Atlanta’s WSB have all launched local shows in Oprah’s wake).

ABC has cleared the 3 p.m. time slot for Katie Couric‘s new talk show, which is set to debut in September 2012. Here’s a rundown of what ABC O&Os currently have at 3:00, as well as 4 p.m.:

	3:00	4:00
WABC	“General Hospital”	Local News
KABC	“Dr. Oz”*	Local News
WLS	“Inside Edition”/”Jeopardy!”	Local News
WPVI	“General Hospital”	Local News
KGO	“7Live” (KGO-produced lifestyle show)	Local News
KTRK	“Millionaire?”/ “Inside Edition”	Local News
WTVD	“General Hospital”	Local News
KFSN	“Rachael Ray”	Local News*

*Debuting in the fall after summer of “Oprah” repeats.

It’s official: Katie Couric has signed a new deal with ABC to host and produce her own syndicated talk show as well as join the ABC News team.

In announcing the multi-year, multi-platform agreement, ABC said that Couric’s new talk show, which will be helmed by Jeff Zucker, has already been cleared in the 3 p.m. time slot at the eight stations owned and operated by ABC, which reside in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Raleigh-Durham and Fresno.

“Katie Couric is one of television’s iconic figures and we are thrilled to have forged such an exciting partnership with her,” said Anne Sweeney, president of the ABC Television group, in making the announcement. “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.”

Couric’s daytime talk show is set to premiere in September 2012. Clearing the show in a coveted time slot was a major factor in Couric’s negotiations with networks this spring. According to The New York Times, the former “CBS Evening News” anchor tried to get NBC to clear its stations’ 4 p.m. spot for her.

It’s still early to be sure but WLS‘s local replacement for the recently departed “Oprah Winfrey Show” has yet to find a strong foothold in the ratings.

“Windy City Live,” with hosts Ryan Chiaverini and Val Warner, is the ABC O&O’s big bet that Chicago viewers will tune into a local lifestyle show during the 9 a.m. time slot that served as Oprah’s platform for 25 years. So far the show hasn’t been able to sustain a significant amount of viewers from its “Good Morning America” lead-in and Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal points out that its fate bears significance beyond the time slot.

“There isn’t a smart person in local media, whether they work at WLS or not, who isn’t rooting for ‘WCL’ to prove its viability,” writes Rosenthal: Read more

ABC is expected to announce a deal with Katie Couric today that hinges on the former “CBS Evening News” anchor’s potential as a syndication star.

Couric and her team, which includes her former “Today” cohort Jeff Zucker, believe that she can fill the daytime hole left by Oprah and this was a key part of the negotiations with ABC, as well as CBS and NBC.

According to The New York Times‘ detailed account of Couric’s network negotiations, her team went as far as to demand that NBC have its stations hold Oprah’s longtime 4 p.m. time slot for her. When NBC wouldn’t provide this guarantee, Couric bumped CBS and ABC to the top of her list.

Eventually ABC won out with a pitch that included both its syndication experience and an offer for Couric to regularly contribute to its news division. By all accounts, the deal does not include any time slot guarantees on behalf of ABC stations.

Miami Fox-affiliate WSVN has dropped a spanish-language talk show following a months-long campaign by the the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that condemned the show for its regular use of derogatory language.

The controversial talk show, “Jose Luis Sin Censura,” has been described as a Spanish-language “Jerry Springer.” It is syndicated on stations around the country and WSVN had been airing it on a digital subchannel.

In addition to WSVN’s decision to drop the show, GLAAD and NHMC announced on Thursday that Time Warner Cable and AT&T have withdrawn their advertising.

“Jose Luis Sin Censura” thrived on the same toxic studio environment that made “Jerry Springer” a hit. Critics of the show have condemned its frequent inclusion of anti-gay slurs, often shouted at the show’s guests by crowd-members. Video of the show inside… Read more

Orlando’s WFTV has found a replacement for Oprah: Casey Anthony.

In the wake of Oprah’s departure, WFTV has decided to run coverage of the Casey Anthony trial in the TV icon’s longtime time slot instead of repeats of her final season.

“We’re here to serve an audience. The market has more interest in Casey on trial than in repeats of a show that has been canceled,” WFTV news director Bob Jordan told the Orlando Sentinel recently, referring to “Oprah.”

WFTV’s competitors have been drawing significant audiences with daytime coverage of the Anthony trial so the station decided to put its hat in the ring. WFTV’s sister station WRDQ is now airing live coverage of the trial from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays with WFTV taking over at 4.

“We have to be in the game,” Jordan said. “We’re not going to sit here and let them take this.”