It looks like Kelly Ripa will have to start searching for a new co-host.
ABC announced that former football player Michael Strahan will be leaving Live! With Kelly and Michael for a new role on Good Morning America. Strahan has been on the show for four years, and for the past two years has been appearing on GMA as well two times per week. Variety reports that, come September, he will be joining the network’s top morning show full time.
“Michael has been a stellar addition to the broadcast. Over the past two years on GMA he’s proven to be a tireless and versatile broadcaster with an incredible ability to connect with people, from veterans to American pop culture icons and newsmakers,” ABC News president James Goldston wrote in a staff memo. He added that being on Live! Has helped Strahan to “hone his skills as an interviewer,” and he will “have even more opportunities to tell stories that inspire, inform and empower people” on GMA.
The network likely hopes that this move will help GMA one up its television rival, NBC’s Today. GMA passed the Today show’s ratings in 2012 for the first time in 16 years, becoming the most-watched morning show in the country. In the past few months, both shows have seen viewership slide—GMA by 7%, and Today by 2%. Today has since reclaimed the top spot.