THR’s Marisa Guthrie reports Katie Couric “is close to finalizing a wide-ranging deal with Internet giant Yahoo!” and in the process exiting her contract with ABC News. That contract was part of a larger deal with Disney-ABC for her syndicated show. Disney-ABC expects to make a decision on the future of “Katie” around mid-December, a source tells us, but even if it does end, Couric’s ABC News deal would have one more year on it. ABC News appears ready to let her out of it.
“Katie is an incredible journalist and this was an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up,” an ABC newser in the know tells TVNewser. “Thanks to the powerful association between ABC News and Yahoo we know that Katie will continue to work closely with us and welcome her on our air anytime.”
ABC News and Yahoo! have been online news partners for two years. In fact, “Good Morning America’s” homepage is part of the Yahoo domain.
Couric spent 15 years as co-host of NBC’s “Today” show before moving to CBS News to anchor the “Evening News.” She departed CBS for ABC in 2011.