(Updates shares in sixth paragraph.)
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Katie Couric’s daytime talk show “Katie” is ending, according to Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, following the host’s decision to begin producing news reports for Yahoo! Inc.[1] [2]
“Katie” will conclude in June after completing its second season, Couric and Disney-ABC Domestic Television, the program’s distributor, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
Couric, 56, who once earned as much as $15 million a year anchoring the “CBS Evening News[3] ,” said last month she’s joining Yahoo as the Web portal’s global anchor. To permit the move, she was released from an agreement to produce segments exclusively for ABC’s network news unit, people said last month.
“Incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished with @KatieShow,” Couric posted on her Twitter account. “Many thanks to my talented, hard-working staff & still so much to look fwd to!”
Disney, the world’s largest entertainment company, said in November that a decision on whether to renew “Katie” for a third season would be made this month. Couric had wanted to continue, people said at the time.
Disney, based in Burbank, California, gained 0.5 percent to $73.31 at 9:36 a.m. in New York. The stock had climbed 47 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 27 percent increase for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
When “Katie” began in September 2012, the program drew the largest audience of a new daytime talk show since “Dr. Phil” in 2002, according to Nielsen data supplied at the time by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Couric and Jeff Zucker[4] , the former chief executive officer of NBCUniversal, were executive producers. Zucker became president of Time Warner Inc.[5] ’s CNN in January.
Daytime Audience
While “Katie” regularly ranked among the most-watched daytime syndicated talk shows, the program never became a replacement for “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which was also distributed by Disney-ABC and ended its 25-year run in May 2011.
“Katie” drew an average of 2.27 million viewers in the week ended Dec. 8, according to data supplied by Nielsen, fewer than the top-rated “Dr. Phil” at 4.17 million.
Couric, whose show was taped at ABC’s studio in New York, reached an agreement with Disney in June 2011 to distribute the show, which became available in more than 94 percent of U.S. television markets.
--Editors: Stephen West, Rob Golum
To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net
References
- ^ Katie Couric (www.sfgate.com)
- ^ Yahoo! Inc. (www.sfgate.com)
- ^ CBS Evening News (www.sfgate.com)
- ^ Jeff Zucker (www.sfgate.com)
- ^ Time Warner Inc. (www.sfgate.com)
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