Disney’s ABC News is accelerating a cost-cutting and consolidation drive that began with a six-percent workforce reduction in March and has now reached its daytime lineup, where GMA3: What You Need to Know faces a staff exodus and an uncertain format.
Co-anchors Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan left the network last week—Pilgrim to host Inside Edition and Morgan to pursue opportunities outside Disney—prompting management to absorb the program into the flagship Good Morning America production unit and weigh further changes to its on-air team.
The shake-up follows a turbulent spring in which ABC News cut roughly 200 positions, shuttered data-journalism site FiveThirtyEight and merged its 20/20 and Nightline staffs under ABC News Studios, moves outlined in an internal memo first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Production roles on GMA3 were hit especially hard, with executive producer Catherine McKenzie among those let go, leaving a leaner team now overseen by GMA executive producer Simone Swink.
Despite speculation that Disney might cancel the third-hour broadcast, executives insist the program remains “critical to the GMA brand,” even as ratings fragmentation and streaming migration forced the company to rethink its daytime strategy. The hour has already been rebranded “GMA3,” relocated to Disney’s new Hudson Square studios and refreshed with graphics designed to match the flagship show.
Disney’s broader retrenchment has eliminated more than 7,000 jobs company-wide since 2023, part of Chief Executive Bob Iger’s pledge to streamline operations and steer resources toward profitable streaming content. Analysts note that the cuts signal a pivot away from volume toward “high-quality originals” as traditional TV revenue slides. For ABC News, the challenge now is to stabilize a flagship morning franchise while redefining an afternoon hour that has cycled through three anchor teams in as many years.
