Nightline is a late-night hard news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. It airs five nights a week (weeknights), usually for 30 minutes. Ted Koppel has served as main anchor since March 1980 .

The program had its beginnings in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis. ABC News president Roone Arledge felt the best way to compete against NBC's The Tonight Show was to update Americans on the latest news from Iran. At that time, the show was called: "The Iran Crisis--America Held Hostage: Day xxx" where xxx represented each day Iranians held hostage the occupants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran.

At the end of the hostage crisis in 1981, Nightline had entrenched itself on the ABC programming schedule, and made Koppel a national figure. The program has prided itself on providing a mix of investigative journalism and extended interviews which would look out of place on ABC World News Tonight. Thanks to a video sharing agreement with the BBC, Nightline also repackages some of the BBC's output for an American audience.

The program remains unique in American media, considering its nightly broadcasts. Most other similar shows only air once a week, though usually in a prime-time slot for a full hour. Nightline is usually less sensationalistic than the weekly newsmagazines (which often emphasize soft news programming), though the program has caused controversy on occasion.

Threats of cancellation

Rumors have spread for many years about the show's cancellation. Many believe that a talk-show format would receive better ratings for the network, which has struggled in late-night ratings over the past few years.

In 2002, ABC attempted to hire David Letterman from CBS, a move that would likely have forced Nightline's cancellation. However, Letterman opted to re-sign with CBS.

Rumors also have spread about the show's cancellation after Koppel announced in March 2005 that he will be leaving the show at the end of his contract in December 2005.

External link

• Nightline website