Entertainment

Couric turned down Larry King’s job

Katie Couric is in serious talks to stay at CBS — though not necessarily as anchor for the evening news — when her $15-million-a-year contract expires next year, according to well-placed sources.

The talks have heated up since she quietly informed CNN last month that she was not interested in taking over Larry King’s spot, the sources say.

Larry King is, according to The Post’s Page Six, being pushed into a part-time job at the cable news channel, where his show has dropped 50 percent in the ratings in the past year.

America’s Got Talent” judge Piers Morgan, a former British newspaper editor, is reportedly close to getting the job. It is all part of a major shake-up of CNN’s third-place, primetime line-up.

But the field opened up for Morgan only after Couric made it known to CNN brass that she wasn’t a candidate for King’s job.

“She didn’t want to be the knight on a white horse again,” said a source close to the situation — meaning that she didn’t want a repeat of her fumbling jump to CBS in 2006. Back then, the TV world had high expectations that she could rescue CBS from the ratings cellar, which never happened.

Couric, a famous reader of her own reviews, has been hurt by the bad publicity her ratings at CBS have caused. There was word as late as last May that she was so unhappy — and that her contract was so high — it was unlikely she would stay at CBS when her contract is up next summer. But in recent weeks, that has changed, says several sources inside and outside CBS.

The talks, they say, hinge on two scenarios:

* a personal production company for Katie that could create specials and perhaps syndicated daytime shows for CBS;

* and the promise of some sort of agreement between CBS and CNN to share resources and news costs.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” said one exec.

CNN and CBS brass met again just last week to restart negotiations over a cost-sharing deal, say people familiar with the merger talks.

Giving Couric a production deal would allow CBS to cut her salary in one area — as news anchor — but let Katie make up for the lost salary elsewhere.

A cost-sharing with CBS that would permit Couric to appear on CNN, in exchange for the cable news channel picking up a piece of her salary.

The talks also include the possibility of Katie stepping down as anchor for the 6:30 p.m. newscast, though that seems unlikely now.

CBS has no successor in the wings — “no plan B,” as one insider put it last night — if Couric opts out of the daily grind.

Couric’s longtime agent, Alan Berger, last week referred all questions to her publicist, who declined comment.