CBS News to drop 'Up to the Minute' in September

CBS News has quietly canceled "Up to the Minute," the pioneering overnight news program that, under the original name, "CBS News Nightwatch," began over 30 years ago.

The program will end mid-September, but CBS News is expected to supply some other form of programming in the overnight hours. "Up to the Minute" airs in the New York area from 3:07 a.m. to 4 A network spokeswoman Wednesday declined to comment.

A hard news program with its own staff and editorial content, "Up to the Minute's" end signals the end of an era -- back to a time when networks saw the overnight hours as a growth opportunity, or at least an opportunity to build audiences where none had been before. "Up to the Minute" began in 1992 -- and is currently anchored by Anne-Marie Green, who also anchors "CBS Early Morning News" -- but before that had been "CBS News Nightwatch," a signature CBS News program best known as the launch for one of the important and durable careers in news/information television: Charlie Rose's. (Rose established his long-running PBS interview program largely on a similar format -- in-depth interviews.) "Nightwatch" began in 1982.

"Up to the Minute," by contrast, essentially was to become an hourlong version of an early evening news program. It's unclear what will air in its place, although CBS News has been producing streaming news content for CBSN, the live-streaming website that launched in November. Green, by the way, is also an anchor with CBSN.