TV Tremors

Two networks score coups

When Veteran Newscaster David Brinkley, 61, abruptly announced earlier this month that he was leaving NBC News after 38 years, he pointedly scotched any retirement rumors. He was going home to Washington, D.C., he said, 'to do what I've always done--cover politics." Last week beaming ABC News executives confirmed that, come November, he'll be doing just that for them. Brinkley's assignment: anchoring a new, hour-long successor to Issues and Answers on Sunday mornings, providing political commentary for ABC World News Tonight, and, in 1982 and 1984, doing what he has always done best--covering elections.

News of the deal surfaced just hours before John Chancellor wound up NBC's Nightly News last Friday with a fond farewell to his colleague: "As a writer, he is simply the best. As a stylist, he is impossible to imitate." Quite true, but Brinkley's NBC bosses seemed almost to have forgotten that during the past year. In fact, it was their growing indifference that finally prompted his exit. Insiders reported that he was frustrated with the network's back-burner treatment of his NBC Magazine with David Brinkley. The show was pitted first against CBS's top-rated Dallas, later against The Incredible Hulk. Brinkley denied reports of contractual disputes with NBC News President William Small. More significant, perhaps, was the news that Today Host Tom Brokaw will anchor Nightly News with Roger Mudd starting next April. Said Brinkley last week: "I'm not happy to be leaving, but there's nothing at NBC that I really want to do."

That will not be a problem at ABC, which seems to have granted him everything NBC refused. Brinkley's switch marks a major victory in ABC News President Roone Arledge's drive to build what he calls "the best bench in town." In the past two years, Arledge has tried to hire Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and PBS's Robert MacNeil and courted almost every other news star in the business. Signing Brinkley permits Arledge to go ahead with the new Sunday-morning show--scheduled to air from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. E.S.T.--providing an alternative to early-riser Charles Kuralt on CBS. On Friday night, incredulous ABC News staffers were still recovering from the shock waves. Said one: "I do not know why NBC couldn't find a way to accommodate him. He is the most eminent newsman." Many of Brinkley's colleagues at NBC bitterly agreed. Said one News producer: "It's crazy. You just don't throw away your most experienced reporter. Brinkley is the last of the great ones." Acknowledged CBS News President Bill Leonard: "David will be an asset. He's been a good competitor, a fine newsman and a fine writer, and he'll continue to be."

If the champagne was flowing at ABC News last week, third-place NBC News had its own coup to celebrate. After months of cajoling and arm twisting, the network won the backing of its affiliates' board of directors to press for a one-hour nightly newscast. If the board can persuade NBC's 213 affiliated stations to give up the lucrative half-hour of local programming that currently follows the network news, NBC could take the first step in expanding the evening news since 1963, when CBS stretched its CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite from 15 minutes to half an hour. Even if the affiliates agree, a further hurdle remains to be leaped: the repeal of the FCC's 1971 "primetime access" ruling granting local stations a half-hour slot of prime-time broadcasting. Industry sources doubt, however, that such a repeal would be long in coming. "The prime-time ruling was designed to protect the affiliates," says one. "If NBC's stations say yes, CBS's and ABC's will be close behind, and at that point, who is the FCC to stand in the way?" Said an elated Tom Brokaw: "I'm delighted, and grateful to our affiliate board. I'm crossing my fingers, legs and everything else."

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