ABC Boss Commits To Late-Night News

ABC’s corporate parents are committed to news at 11:35pm, the NYT reports in Monday editions. The decision, by Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television group, “is the most public vote of confidence that the network has extended to Mr. Westin after months of internal wrangling over what exactly to do at 11:35.” (Sweeney has decided that that “the news division — and not the network’s entertainment or sports units — would be given the first opportunity to put a program on the air” in the Nightline time slot.)

> Also: Drudge seems to think the Times Square pilot is breaking news, when it’s not: J. Max Robins had that scoop in mid-March. “ABCNews tests ‘Nightclub’ to replace ‘Nightline,’ Drudge screams. But the real headline is that David Westin is distancing himself from the test programs: He “said in an interview that such programs had effectively been ruled out.”