ABC, Couric Expected to Announce Daytime Talk Deal | Olympic Broadcast Bid Meeting Under Way

ABC is close to an agreement with Katie Couric for a syndicated talk show, according to Bloomberg. The parties may announce the agreement as soon as today. An agreement with Couric would give ABC and its affiliate stations a brand name replacement for Oprah Winfrey, whose syndicated afternoon program ended in May after a 25-year run in May 25. While distributed by CBS Corp. (CBS), Winfrey’s program was carried by ABC stations covering almost half of the U.S. TV households.

Top media executives from Comcast's NBCUniversal, Disney's ESPN/ABC and News Corp.'s Fox Sports are meeting with the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland June 6 and 7. There, the IOC will conduct the auction to the U.S. rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games in Sochi, Russia and Rio de Janiero. The price is expected to be steep, writes Multichannel News. The IOC would like to match if not exceed the $2.2 billion that NBC paid for the rights to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver ($820 million) and next year's Summer Olympics in London ($1.2 billion).

The Broadcast TV Journalists Association, the offshoot of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, announced nominations for its first Critics' Choice Television Awards. Modern Family led the series field with 6 nominations, including best comedy series, ABC topped all networks with 16 nominations. AMC and FX landed the most nominations on the cable side with 9 each, writes Deadline Hollywood.