Koppel joining Discovery Networks

After hot pursuit by several television organizations, Ted Koppel announced Wednesday that he is joining Discovery Networks, a dark-horse contender that won his services with a whirlwind courtship.

The 40-year ABC veteran, who left “Nightline” in late November, was close to signing a deal with HBO. Instead, he will deliver as much as 10 hours of programming a year to Discovery, ranging from documentaries and town meetings to breaking-news specials. His first project is slated to air in the fall.

The deal is a departure for both sides. Discovery, which contracts out most of its programs, agreed to hire Koppel, his longtime producer Tom Bettag and eight other former “Nightline” staffers as full-time employees.

Koppel, who has long drawn millions of viewers, will have to grow accustomed to smaller cable audiences but will have far more time to develop programming than during the nightly grind at ABC.

“With Ted Koppel and his team, Discovery is making a long-term commitment to produce high-quality programming that gives our global audience insight, perspective and analysis beyond just the headlines,” said Billy Campbell, president of Discovery Networks, U.S.

Campbell said Koppel will host and produce long-form programming examining major global topics and events and also will conduct some of the town hall-style meetings that were a staple of “Nightline” programming.

Koppel said he and his colleagues “are enormously excited to be at a place that wants nothing more than to produce the kind of television journalism that focuses on issues that matter to the largest number of people.”

Discovery operates in 160 countries and territories; its best known networks in the United States are Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel, Animal Planet and Travel Channel. It has never been a force in the news business and has no anchor or correspondent with anything approaching Koppel’s star power.

A source close to Koppel said he was attracted by Discovery’s flexibility and enthusiasm and had concluded that it would be difficult to do the kind of serious journalism he envisions on the broadcast networks because of advertiser pressure to cater to younger viewers.

He and Bettag had been talking to HBO for months, but top Discovery officials won them over in talks that began only in the past month.

Koppel, 65, decided early last year to leave “Nightline,” the program he anchored since its 1980 debut, after ABC News President David Westin insisted that he do the late-night show live every night rather than tape in advance.

The triumvirate that replaced him – Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Martin Bashir – has received decidedly mixed reviews for a program that now tackles several topics a night rather than the single in-depth report that became Koppel’s signature.