Longtime Inside Edition anchor Deborah Norville is exiting the syndicated CBS newsmagazine after 30 years.
Norville announced the decision on the program Wednesday, telling viewers that she would leave at the end of the current season.
“They made me a lovely offer to stay, but there are things I’d like to do and places I want to do them that continuing here doesn’t permit,” Norville said on the show. “So, at the end of the season, I’ll be moving on. I’ve got some exciting things in the works, which I’ll talk about later, but what I want to say now is what a privilege it’s been to lead Inside Edition for all these years. To work with the incredibly talented team here, and to be invited into your homes every day, it’s an honor I don’t take lightly.”
Norville has been a staple on TV sets each weekday afternoon for decades, delivering Inside Edition’s trademark mix of entertainment, true crime, lifestyle and tabloid news segments and stories to viewers. The show is distributed by CBS Media Ventures and is based in New York City.
“Deborah’s powerful presence, both on-screen and behind-the-scenes, has contributed immensely to the success of Inside Edition for the past 30 years,” the show’s executive producer Charles Lachman said in a statement. “She has made a lasting impact on the show, and I’m excited to follow along as she builds upon her outstanding broadcast legacy in her next chapter.”
Syndicated TV, like broadcast TV as a whole, is undergoing major changes. While shows like the daytime talk shows (think Drew Barrymore and Kelly Clarkson), game shows (Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune) and other formats (like the judge genre) still garner meaningful viewers, the shift of TV viewing to streaming services has changed the economics.
CBS Media ventures has touted that Inside Edition averages over 3.5 million viewers each day and has a large following on social platforms like TikTok and YouTube, though the economics of those platforms pale in comparison to traditional TV.
A number of high-profile news anchors have also left their jobs in the last year after receiving contract renewals that did not meet their expectations. While it is not clear what the details of Norville’s renewal offer was, it would not be surprising if the changed economics of daytime TV meant that the network was unwilling to budge on whatever its bottom line was.
Norville isn’t leaving CBS altogether, however. The network previously announced that Norville will host a new game show starting this fall called The Perfect Line.
