AP: Couric's out

Katie Couric will leave the "CBS Evening News," The Associated Press is reporting this morning. Citing an unnamed exec, this is what the report says pretty much in its entirety: 

A network executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Couric has not officially announced her plans, reported the move to The Associated Press on Sunday night. The 54-year-old anchor is expected to launch a syndicated talk show in 2012 and several companies are vying for her services.

And so that's it? Well, not quite. Couric could end up in a syndicated talk show with CBS. Katie is back from vacation this morning, and obviously both she and CBS will make a formal statement shortly. This is not a surprise, though as recently as three months ago, a decision could have gone either way. The "EN" numbers are not strong, and have remained anemic throughout her five-year run. But CBS chief Leslie Moonves sought to keep her in the role, nevertheless. A decison was fully expected to be made by the new chairman of CBS News, Jefff Fager, who was believed to be less enthusiastic about a continued tenure.

Couric's role at "EN" hasn't been remotely disastrous, and there have been a few brief and fleeting triumphs. But her problems were not just the refusal of most viewers to accept her as a successor to Dan Rather, but the refusal of most viewers to watch "Evening  News." Rather, too, struggled, and the only anchor who actually got the broadcast into a comfort zone for the nightly news viewer was Bob Schieffer.

Her successor? Probably "60  Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley who has been rumored almost from the moment the Katie's-out stories first began circulating back in '07.  But don't be surprised by . . . a surprise. CBS is relinquishing a once-vaunted attempt to remake the broadcast; it'll almost certainly return to the future but may return with something a little different as well. 

Couric's up in June, so the assumption for now is that that's when a switch occurs. But don't make any assumptions either. CBS -- and Couric -- may want to move on the change much sooner.