Sounds Like ABC Will Be Beefing Up Network Content

Steve Jones

ABC News' content deal with broadcast radio giant Cumulus Media will end at the end of this year, and with it, ABC will be taking responsibility for its marketing, distribution and programming, as well as its affiliate relationships.

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Cumulus struck its own deal with CNN late last month for news and information content, effectively replacing Diane Sawyer and David Muir with Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett.

Capital New York is reporting  the loss of Cumulus as a distributor is a challenge; however, it does free up ABC to sell more content to stations it otherwise could not. ABC’s deal with Cumulus prohibited the distribution of some content to ABC’s more than 1,600 partner stations. Even without Cumulus, ABC is the largest radio news and information distributor, with around 50 million weekly listeners.

“This is really all about growth and good news, this is a chance for us to broaden what we create,” said Steve Jones, V.P. of ABC News Radio. “It is really taking all these programs that we are currently providing just to digital radio, and bringing them to broadcast radio.”

Jimmy Kimmel

Those programs include shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Nashville” and “The View.” ABC breaks out Kimmel's monologue and makes it available to stations, and can take content from "Dancing With the Stars" and make it available as well, a proposition that may be appealing to music stations.

Jones said that ABC will be adding new programs as well.

The company is working with a third party, Skyview Networks, to help on the distribution side and with national sales.

According to the LA Times,  it's not clear what stations will carry ABC News Radio once the changes take effect on Jan. 1, though the company said the end of the Cumulus pact will allow it to make deals with other stations.

People familiar with the deal said Cumulus has been paying ABC roughly $17 million a year.

"We've chosen to take a different route to serve our radio stations more directly," Jones said in an interview. "We think we're going to provide more to stations than we currently can."