‘Inside Edition’ Gets New Home

KABC Channel 7 has acquired the syndicated tabloid news program “Inside Edition,” and in the fall will begin airing it weeknights at 7, the time that the station currently airs ABC’s nightly network newscast, “Inside Edition’s” production company said Thursday.

Channel 7 general manager Terry Crofoot was not immediately available to confirm the announcement made by King World boss Roger King, but a source at the station said that KABC had recently been in negotiations with King World for the rights to “Inside Edition” and a new syndicated news program, “Only Yesterday.” “Inside Edition” currently airs locally on KCAL Channel 9.

The KABC source said that announcement of a specific time period for “Inside Edition” may be premature, however. If the station does air the show at 7 p.m., it would then have to move ABC’s “World News Tonight,” which has been broadcast in that time period for many years.

The likeliest scenario, the source said, would be to move “World News” to 6:30 p.m., opposite network news on both KNBC Channel 4 and KCBS Channel 2, which would thus eliminate one-half hour of the station’s current 4-7 p.m. local news block.

The news department would then ask that the station program that lost half hour of local news during a different time period, perhaps at midday, the source said. Currently, Channel 2 is the only network-owned local station with a midday newscast.

Another option, however, would have the station putting “Inside Edition” at 7:30 p.m., displacing the magazine show “Eye on L.A.” and leaving its current afternoon news lineup intact.