Disney-ABC Domestic Television

ABC is betting heavily on the show shoring up its Tuesday lineup, while parent company Disney has dreams of growing The Muppets—like corporate cousins Marvel and Star Wars—into another lucrative, multiplatform franchise.

The star of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette will succeed Terry Crews on the Disney-ABC syndicated game show.

Disney-ABC Domestic Television’s one-hour, live early fringe syndicated talk show Katie has been sold in 95 of the top 100 markets in advance of this fall’s debut.

With Katie Couric, Disney-ABC Domestic Television has arguably the biggest name in the plethora of new talk shows set for debuts this fall in the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s departure from syndication. “We are projecting profitability in year one,” says Disney-ABC Domestic Television President Janice Marinelli. Her confidence stems from Couric herself. She credible and “relatable” and she’s made a commitment to doing whatever it takes in production and promotion, she says. “How often do you get a talent of this caliber to enter the syndication marketplace?”

The new Katie Couric talker from Disney-ABC Domestic Television has been cleared in 55 of the top 60 markets for its fall 2012 launch.

Disney-ABC’s talker with Katie Couric has grabbed the headlines in the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s departure from afternoon syndicated lineups. But she’s far from alone in the race for station slots starting in fall 2012. As things now stand, Couric could be battling against talk shows featuring a defrocked priest (from Debmar-Mercury), one of those Real Housewives (from Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution), the host of Survivor (from CBS Television Distribution) and the now-42 year-old Ricki Lake on a comeback bid (from Twentieth Television)..

The host with Kelly Ripa of Disney-ABC Domestic Television’s Live With Regis and Kelly says he will be stepping down from the show around the end of the summer, though he didn’t specify a departure date.