With Katie Couric leaving the CBS Evening News after five years the question now is where she will land. And it looks increasingly like she may end up at ABC, a prospect that may mean the end of General Hospital—the network's last remaining soap opera.
Reportedly CBS has decided not to produce the syndicated talk show that Couric and her old boss, Jeff Zucker, are shopping around which leaves ABC as the last candidate standing (NBC and Warner Bros., her other two big options, have already declined). And what is ABC offering? According to TMZ they are promising a guaranteed $20 million contract for the first year of the talk show (which would be an hour long and air weekdays). In addition they would want Couric to do "specials for ABC News, 20/20, and do a significant amount of fill-in work—including anchoring."
But there is a catch—ABC already has two syndicated talkers planned to fill in the spaces where the soon to depart All My Children and One Life To Live currently are. To make room for Couric the network would very likely have to make the unusual move of giving its affiliates back the hour where General Hospital currently airs (which would allow the affiliates to then buy the rights to air Couric's syndicated show from ABC/Disney to fill the time).
No decisions have been made, and CBS could still throw a wrench in any plan—the Tiffany network has the right to match any competitive offer made to Couric through June 4.
