ABC News Taps ‘GMA’ Weekend Anchors to Expand Streaming Efforts (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Whit Johnson, Janai Norman and Gio Benitez hold important jobs at ABC News, tasked with taking the unit’s flagship program, “Good Morning America,” into the weekend-news fray.

Now they each will take on another pressing task — boosting ABC News in the streaming wars. The Disney journalism unit’s live-streaming outlet ABC News Live will on Saturday expand its programming on weekends, dispatching each member of the trio to take on streaming duties during weekend hours after 10 a.m.

ET on Saturdays and Sundays. The group will retain their assignments on the “GMA” weekend program. They join DeMarco Morgan, co-anchor of the afternoon program “GMA3, ” who recently began anchoring weekend morning slots on ABC News Live.

All four will rotate duties for programming that is part of “ABC News Live Weekend.” “It’s our strategy to have all of our stars on ABC News Live, and it’s something that has already been happening,” says Seni Tienabeso, executive director of ABC News Live, during an interview. “We have the most-watched anchors already playing,” he says, noting that David Muir has been anchoring a 9 p.m.