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Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Couric’s jump coming soon
The Katie Couric soap opera could reach its dramatic climax at the end of this week. That’s the speculation swirling in the TV news biz now.
Sources say NBC, where perky Couric, 49, has anchored “The Today Show” since 1991, will make the announcement instead of CBS, where she is expected to take over the evening news anchor post from Bob Schieffer. (Dan Rather, you’ll recall, stepped down last March, and Schieffer began his lengthy interim stint at that time.)
In the early going at least, it sounds like both networks are trying to take the high road here, which is surprising. Claws could come out down the road, however.
Couric’s contract with NBC is over the end of May, so she will continue with “Today” until then. Exactly when she’ll begin anchoring the “CBS Evening News” is unclear — right away? In the fall when new shows debut? Smart money says Couric will become the first female solo anchor of a network evening newscast in September — amid near-hysterical hoopla.
This speculation has been going on for so long the announcement is destined to be anticlimactic. Analysts already have weighed in that Couric is likely to boost CBS’s news ratings temporarily but probably won’t have a dramatic long-term effect. NBC News has been entrenched in the top spot for years, through Tom Brokaw’s departure and Brian Williams’ arrival. And not even the death of ABC’s Peter Jennings had much effect on that network’s ratings.
The biggest impact in Couric’s move could be on “Today.” Meredith Vieira, formerly of CBS and ABC News and currently of ABC’s morning gabfest “The View,” is the leading contender for Couric’s morning gig. It’ll take at least a year for all this to shake down, so stay tuned.
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