Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan will soon be greeting ABC morning viewers from a very different place.
As part of a larger move by The Walt Disney Co, all of the company’s New York properties will move to a building in downtown New York in an area known as Hudson Square in 2025. This will include some programmes that are already based in well-known studios, such as ‘GMA’ and ‘Live with Kelly and Mark’. The move isn’t scheduled to take place for some time, but staffers are already grappling with how it might affect the show’s standing in TV’s non-stop morning news wars.
“‘Good Morning America’ is defined by the strength of our team in front of and behind the camera, the quality of our reporting and the long, trusted relationship we have with our viewers,” ABC News said in a statement. “Moving all ABC News teams into our new state-of-the-art building was a strategic decision that will allow for greater collaboration and innovation.” The New York Post previously reported on GMA’s impending move across town.
For some staffers, the move may be cause for optimism. After all, Disney CEO Bob Iger has indicated that the company is interested in selling ABC. But the plans to move GMA to Disney’s new digs could indicate that the company wants to keep the show, or even ABC News as a whole, even if the network’s linear infrastructure is taken over by another entity.
Times Square has helped “GMA” in its long-running battle with NBC’s “Today” show for morning viewers. “Today” regularly sends its anchors out to talk to passersby at NBC’s headquarters in midtown Manhattan. “GMA” adopted some of that spirit when it set up shop in Times Square, in a studio that allowed some city dwellers to peer through huge windows at street level. For a time, GMA even welcomed a live audience into the studio during the show’s second hour, allowing those who stayed to chat briefly with Roberts and Ginger Zee. In 2021, “CBS Mornings” will move into a studio across the street – meaning that when “GMA” leaves, the third-ranked morning show on the air will have a new profile downtown.
“Good Morning America” has trumped “Today” in total viewers for several years, with the NBC programme maintaining a lead in the key 25-54 demographic. Under executive producer Simone Swink, however, “GMA” has made new inroads into the demo that advertisers most want in news programming.
