Ted Koppel Parts With Discovery Channel

Ann Murray
Fancast.com

Media legend Ted Koppel has left Discovery Channel, walking away from a contract that would have extended until May 2009. Koppel had produced documentaries like “Iran, The Most Dangerous Nation?,” as well as “The People’s Republic of Capitalism.”

The split may have been fostered by–of course!–network drama in the form of a rift between network executives and the elder statesman. This was hinted at in Koppel’s response statement, where he said “Producing our kind of news-related programs is an expensive proposition. It has long been clear that neither of us is interested in an extension of the current contract. Discovery and I worked on terminating the contract a few months early under terms that both sides found acceptable.”

Get more info on Koppel’s documentaries for Discovery on Fancast.