NEW YORK (AP) - The executive producer of NBC's "Nightly News" with Brian Williams is being replaced three weeks after ABC overtook the show in the ratings. NBC's John Reiss will be reassigned after less than two years on the job, according to a network executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a personnel matter. The change was expected to be announced within a week.
ABC's "World News" with Charles Gibson has been the most popular evening news broadcast twice in the last three weeks. It's the only one of the three network newscasts whose ratings have increased since last year.
NBC, owned by General Electric Co., has generally led the evening news ratings for the past decade, since Tom Brokaw was the anchor. Coupled with NBC's dominance in morning news, it allows the network to say it is No. 1 in news and charge advertisers a premium.
Networks are watching the evening news ratings particularly closely because both ABC (owned by The Walt Disney Co.) and CBS changed anchors in the past year. Gibson took over last spring, replacing the duo of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. Katie Couric replaced Bob Schieffer at the "CBS Evening News" after Labor Day.
So far this year, ABC's "World News" has averaged 9.5 million viewers each night, up from 9 million at the same time in 2006. NBC has dropped from 10 million to just under 9.8 million, while CBS (owned by CBS Corp.) has gone from 8 million to 7.6 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The change at the top of "Nightly News" has been in the works for months, the NBC executive said. It was first reported this week by the Web site Radar Online.
