CBS Mulls Late-Night Newscast, but ‘It’s Not Definite’

CBS News executives are weighing the possibility of introducing a new late-night newscast, but the network has no firm plans in place.

CBS planned to run a late-night Persian Gulf special again Thursday night, making it the second night in a row that the network has put the team of Lesley Stahl and Charles Kuralt up against ABC’s popular “Nightline.”

But while executives at CBS News would like to have a regular forum to discuss world events in depth, a special is not scheduled for tonight, and CBS spokesman Tom Goodman said Thursday that the network will not run another late-night special unless breaking news dictates the need for one.

Still, Goodman said, CBS would like to have another regular news program, and is considering using the 11:30 time slot, among others, for such a program. “Nightline” developed out of similar news specials on ABC more than 10 years ago, when Ted Koppel anchored a nightly broadcast during the Iranian hostage crisis.

“It’s definitely not definite,” Goodman said. “This is something that might develop into something and it might not.”