CBS Give Couric the Boot

From the department of who could've predicted it, the Wall Street Journal reports that Katie Couric will leave the CBS News anchor spot before hittting even the half-way mark in the contract for her much touted 5-year debut as the first women to hold down a nightly network news broadcast:

After two years of record-low ratings, both CBS News executives and people close to Katie Couric say that the "CBS Evening News" anchor is likely to leave the network well before her contract expires in 2011 -- possibly soon after the presidential inauguration early next year.

Katie Couric and CBS are prepared for her early exit from the network.
Ms. Couric isn't even halfway through her five-year contract with CBS, which began in June 2006 and pays an annual salary of around $15 million. But CBS executives are under pressure to cut costs and improve ratings for the broadcast, which trails rival newscasts on ABC and NBC by wide margins.

Her departure would cap a difficult episode for CBS, which brought Ms. Couric to the network with considerable fanfare in a bid to catapult "Evening News" back into first place. Excluding several weeks of her tenure, Ms. Couric never bested the ratings of interim anchor Bob Schieffer, who was named to host the broadcast temporarily after "Evening News" anchor Dan Rather left the newscast in the wake of a discredited report on George W. Bush's National Guard service.

In a statement yesterday, a "CBS Evening News" spokeswoman said, "We are very proud of the 'CBS Evening News,' particularly our political coverage, and we have no plans for any changes regarding Katie or the broadcast." In a separate statement provided by another spokeswoman, Ms. Couric said, "I am working hard and having fun. My colleagues continue to impress me with their commitment to the newscast, and I am very proud of the show we put on every day."

Adding to the pressure on CBS to improve the newscast is the faltering performance of CBS's prime-time schedule and CBS Corp. itself. CBS's stock price has slumped in recent months amid questions about the company's growth potential. Its broadcast network is a key revenue source for CBS -- more so than for most media companies, which tend to have a wider array of assets.

It's possible that Ms. Couric could survive if a major news event lifted the newscast's ratings or some other shift occurred at CBS.

Assuming the two part ways, it's unclear what will happen to either the "Evening News" or Ms. Couric. CBS executives are investigating which prominent news personalities are nearing the end of their contracts.

One possible new job for Ms. Couric: succeeding Larry King at CNN. Mr. King, who is 74 years old, has a contract with the network into 2009. CNN President Jon Klein, a CBS veteran with close ties to some at the network, has expressed admiration for Ms. Couric's work, and the two are friends. They had lunch in late January, and the anchor attended Mr. Klein's birthday party in March. Time Warner Inc.'s CNN said, "Larry King is a great talent who consistently delivers the highest profile guests, and we have no plans to make a change." Through a publicist, Mr. King declined to comment.

Mr. King's talk-show slot at CNN might be a better fit than evening-newscast anchor for Ms. Couric, who is 51. She made her reputation as a skilled interviewer when she was an anchor at the "Today" show on General Electric Co.'s NBC network.

I think I watched Couric maybe two or three times amid the buzz of her debut a couple of years back.

Forget Larry King. Maybe she and Deborah Norville can co-host a reality show for media-sensation flame-outs: "Network News Hotties Do Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale."