Disney rubbed failure in the face of Katie Couric on Thursday.
The media giant was pleased to announce it saw a $5 million increase in operating income at ABC. One of the reasons? It didn’t have to pay for Couric’s canceled daytime talk show.
“Increased operating income from program sales was due to current year sales of ‘Shark Tank,’ ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos,’ ‘My Wife and Kids,’ and lower costs due to the cancellation of ‘Katie,’” the company noted in its earnings statement.
Couric’s program went off the air at the end of June, saving the company money in the fourth quarter. Her ratings had leveled off to decent — but not exemplary — numbers. For the week of Dec. 2, “Katie” had 2.267 million total viewers.
In late 2013, Couric said she was leaving ABC News for Yahoo to serve as the company’s new Global Anchor. That departure did not directly impact the separate deal for “Katie,” though it was widely speculated that the syndicated talk show would not expand beyond a two-year run.
According to the earnings report, revenue for the company’s broadcast networks hit $1.4 billion, up from $1.3 billion at the same time last year. Broadcast operating income stood at $163 million, up from $158 million during the same quarter in 2013.