LOS ANGELES (Reuters)-Katie Couric said Tuesday that she is stepping down, as expected, as anchor of the "CBS evening news," five years after her much-hyped appointment as the first woman to host single-handedly a nightly newscast on a major U.S. television network.
Couric, 54, who moved to CBS News in 2006 after 15 years as co-host of NBC's top-rated morning show, "today," was not clear whether she was leaving CBS completely or when her departure would be effective.
Couric also has a contribution to the signature CBS weekly news magazine show "60 Minutes" and the "CBS Sunday Morning" aired.
The network itself throw little extra light in a brief statement saying: "there is a lot to be proud of during time Katie Couric's CBS Evening News. CBS News, like Katie itself, looks forward to the next chapter. "
Her five-year contract with the network--a salary reported worth $ 15 million a year--comes to an end in June, and of Couric career future has been the subject of media reports for weeks.
A source who knew of her plans told Reuters earlier this month that a possible daytime talk show was among several options that they considered.
In an exclusive statement given to People magazine, Couric said she "looked on a format I to participate in more multi-dimensional storytelling."
Details of where and when it would air a show had yet to be determined, she said. The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have reported that she has consulted with Jeff Zucker, her onetime "today" show producer and former head of the NBCUniversal, about her hosting a syndicated show.
Couric was already a well-known celebrity and household of her tenure at "today" when they hired by CBS in 2006 to the first female solo anchor of a major U.S. network evening newscast.
Her arrival was trumpeted by what was considered the largest CBS News promotional blitz because Dan Rather Walter Cronkite as "Evening News" anchor 25 years earlier. And some critics questioned whether Couric perky, long the darling of morning TV, possessed the journalistic gravitas to succeed.
Network executives hoped that her star power would help breathe new life into the newscast in the wake of a scandal that shook reporting the network news division and led before the bitter departure of CBS.
But despite a number of prestigious awards win and some journalistic coups, including her interviews with Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in 2008, scoring Couric never managed to get the "CBS Evening News" from third place in the ratings war with rivals NBC and ABC.
There was no immediate Word from CBS as possible for Couric on the "Evening News" fill while the network tries a permanent replacement.
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