Katie Couric is exiting ABC News to take a role at Yahoo.
The deal is likely to be announced early next week, sources told The Post.
Couric is currently in the second year of a two-year deal hosting a syndicated daytime talk show, “Katie,” for ABC, which is widely expected to be canceled after this season due to low ratings. As part of that deal, Couric also held a role as special correspondent at ABC News.
A source cited Couric’s “limited visibility” at ABC News for her decision to opt out of her deal.
“She’s had a fairly limited role there,” the source said. “This is a natural step that needed to happen before finalizing her deal with Yahoo.
“Her role with Yahoo is unspecified at this point and has no impact on her daytime talk show.”
“Katie,” which premiered in September 2012, hasn’t exactly set the world on ratings fire — and is expensive to produce, to the tune of a reported $20 million per year.
Though an official decision has not yet been made on its fate, the numbers have been mediocre at best: “Katie” averaged around 2.5 million viewers, and that has fallen to 2.3 million viewers this season.
By comparison, TV’s top-rated talk show, “Dr. Phil,” averages over 4 million viewers daily.
The show also suffered from producer turnover, with original executive producer Jeff Zucker exiting in its first season to become president of CNN Worldwide and with a revolving door of replacements since.
Couric was also reportedly uninterested in doing the types of lower-brow stories that rate well on daytime TV.
“Katie is an incredible journalist and this was an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up,” said an ABC executive with knowledge of the situation. “Katie will continue to work closely with us.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke the news, Couric, 56, will host a newsmaker-interview series for Yahoo that would appear on its highly trafficked home page.
ABC News and Yahoo have had a content-sharing partnership since 2011, with ABC News anchors regularly hosting Web series on Yahoo especially around major events like elections.
“We have nothing new to report yet,” Couric’s spokesman told The Post.