The New York Times' Brian Stelter has an interesting item this morning:
CBS executives, mindful that Katie Couric’s contract expires in a little over a year, have talked to Anderson Cooper of CNN about an anchor job, according to two TV veterans informed of the meeting.
Now as Stelter dutifully notes, CNN denies that any such conversations have occurred "recently." Get it?
As Stelter has been reporting so steadily, something is happening in broadcast newsland. The big layoffs at ABC are just the latest indicator. As Stelter observes, the news networks under the most pressure are CBS and ABC, because they don't have a cable outlet to help amortize the cost of newsgathering. So CNN's denials notwithstanding, The Cable Gamer wouldn't be in the least surprised to see La Anderson replace Couric. Cooper is not the best choice, of course, but he's popular in Manhattan, if you know what I mean.
So stay tuned.
But it might take a while. Because, as Andrew Heyward, former CBS chief--till he got pushed out over "Rathergate"--explained to Stelter:
But the networks will surely stick it out, he predicted, if only because they do not want to see their competitors win.
“I sometimes compare it to three people in a leaky boat,” Mr. Heyward said. “Each one sees an island shimmering in the distance and starts thinking: I could jump out and swim for the island and maybe I could make it.
“On the other hand, I could drown and make the boat lighter so the other two make it. I think you are going to see everybody staying in the game because everybody knows leaving guarantees a longer lease on life for their competitors.”
In other words, Heyward is saying that the networks, fiercely competitive as they are, don't want to give up the ship, because if one did, that would help the other two. That's a good analysis, but if the situation is that dire, then someone will give up the ship.
And that will break The Cable Game wide open.
