Desperately Seeking Katie

The unofficial Katie Couric circus has been on tour--only under this particular big top, it’s executives at major media companies who are doing the jumping through hoops.

Couric, who has helped make NBC’s “Today” by far the most popular network morning program for years and an enormously valuable franchise, is being heavily pursued by virtually every entertainment giant, all hoping they can secure her services once her contract with NBC News expires in May.

The 44-year-old host--who is represented by Alan Berger at Artists Management Group, Michael Ovitz’s company--has received a whirlwind series of presentations from top-level executives, pitching everything from prime-time newsmagazines to syndicated afternoon talk shows to Internet-related ventures.

Some have compared the courtship of Couric to the process Ovitz engineered in regard to another high-profile piece of NBC talent in 1992 as David Letterman’s representative, when the late-night host began exploring his future after losing out on “The Tonight Show” to Jay Leno. Competing networks and distributors of syndicated programs paraded in to meet with Letterman before the host settled on CBS.

Still, others see significant differences, beginning with the fact that NBC has much to offer Couric and is widely seen as being well-positioned to keep her, even if it means in a different capacity.

Nevertheless, sources say the presentations have been extraordinarily elaborate in an effort to impress Couric. DreamWorks principals Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, for example, showed up with a video--reportedly shot for more than $100,000--that featured extras waving “We Love You, Katie” placards. Katzenberg was also said to have handed Couric’s representatives a multimillion-dollar check, telling them the host could deposit it as soon as she signed with the company. DreamWorks declined comment.

“DreamWorks really put on a full-court press,” noted one competitor, on condition of anonymity. “People have been throwing the kitchen sink at her.”

AOL Time Warner also pulled out all the stops in a March meeting with Couric in New York, attended by Chief Executive Gerald Levin and top officials at AOL and Time. Although no specifics were discussed, according to people familiar with the meeting, the company laid out the breadth of possibilities open to Couric--from the Web to CNN to a syndicated talk show--in a corporate synergy-style tape.

What the company really had in mind, however, was having a new Couric show take over time periods occupied by its Warner Bros.-distributed “Rosie O’Donnell Show,” whose host has announced she is stepping down.

Couric had a follow-up meeting with the company’s syndication arm, Telepictures Productions, where her close friend, Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey, is senior executive producer of reality programming. The company has since announced plans for a talk show hosted by comic Caroline Rhea that it hopes will supplant O’Donnell.

At CBS, Couric has been courted over lunch by “60 Minutes” executive producer Don Hewitt. The corporate holdings of parent Viacom offer numerous syndication options as well, including at powerhouse King World, which distributes “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

Most executives who have talked to Couric say they believe that she will end up at NBC, where, according to one executive, “the company has made it very clear to her that they don’t want her to leave. It almost goes without saying.”

That kind of assumption doomed NBC in its attempts to keep Letterman, of course, but sources say NBC has been much more aggressive and demonstrative in its approach to Couric, such as orchestrating an elaborate “Today” show tribute to her 10th anniversary there.

NBC has spent time going over options with Couric but also appears to be hoping that friendships built over the last decade will prevail. “That’s different from what she can get from [Time Warner’s] Levin,” said an executive. Officially, NBC is saying only, “We love Katie and we hope she stays at NBC.”

Despite the fact that Couric could largely write her own ticket at NBC, the expectation is she would remain with “Today” at least short term while assuming additional prime-time duties.

The model might be that of ABC’s Barbara Walters, the top-paid woman in network news, who has her own production company that owns the prime-time specials she does for the network. Those specials have recently been scaled back as the Walters-produced ABC daytime show “The View” has taken off.

Another possibility would be a weekday program that would run on the NBC-owned TV stations and syndicated across the U.S. Such an arrangement could prove enormously lucrative, though some program distributors say the feel-good approach Couric has discussed in meetings--such as theme weeks regarding cancer prevention, a significant topic to Couric since her husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998--is unlikely to thrive in the rough-and-tumble syndication market, where even Winfrey, the queen of daytime talk, started as a purveyor of trashier topics before parlaying her success into the freedom to do higher-brow fare.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding Couric’s plans, various factors have become grist for the gossip mill, including her relationship with Tom Werner, a principal in the high-powered TV production company Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, fueling conjecture about Couric’s interest in eventually moving to the West Coast.

One option that has also been discussed is the possibility of Couric’s taking over when Tom Brokaw steps down from “The NBC Nightly News,” as he has hinted he might. Yet that wouldn’t address what is thought to be a key concern for Couric in terms of lifestyle, which many think is more important to her than money.

Couric--who has been anchoring “NBC Nightly News” this week--declined comment regarding her plans, as did Berger. Even if a company does steal Couric away, her contract provides NBC a 90-day window to match any competing offer, thus effectively precluding another player from launching a new show featuring the host before 2003.

Although Couric has to work an early shift now, it’s not as onerous as some might think: Sources say she arrives at the studio around 6:30 a.m. and is often gone before noon. And while she must go over briefing books for the next day’s show during the day, she is still left with plenty of time to pick up her daughters from school and have dinner with them.

Speculation about Couric began to heat up last December, when “Today’s” longtime producer, Jeff Zucker, headed west to become president of NBC Entertainment. The two had been collaborators for a decade, with Couric joining the program as a correspondent in 1990 and becoming co-anchor in April 1991.

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Lowry reported from Los Angeles and Jensen from New York.