ABC has announced that Diane Sawyer will be replacing Charles Gibson as the anchor on the network’s “World News” show at the end of the year. Sawyer has long been the host of “Good Morning America,” but will assume her new position in January after Gibson leaves at the end of the year.

Sawyer’s move into the new position isn’t entirely a surprise. After all, she has long enjoyed a reputation for being an excellent news anchor. With Sawyer’s move to “World News,” women will seemingly be taking over the network evening programs. In fact, two of the three networks will have female anchors after Sawyer takes over her new position. She will have some pretty big shoes to fill, however, as “World News” has been consistently coming in second in the ratings behind the “Nightly News” with Brian Williams on NBC.

“You’re going to have, for the first time ever, two women competing as solo anchors in a television framework that just — within living memory — sort of destroyed every woman who tried to do it,” Richard Wald, who is a former news executive at ABC and NBC, is reported as saying by the New York Times.

Although Sawyer will be the new ace of “World News,” it doesn’t mean that Gibson is stepping down completely. In fact, he has expressed an interest in staying on board in some way with ABC News and the executives have been quite receptive to the idea, though it is not certain how he will still contribute.

Staff members involved with the show were relieved when the network announced Gibson’s replacement at the same time they announced his retirement. This way, they could immediately start planning for the transition. At the same time, the change has raised some concern regarding the future of “Good Morning America.”

Concerns about the future of “Good Morning America” are well founded, as the show has been quite profitable for the network. In fact, the show is more profitable than the evening newscast and much of this profitability has been obtained with Sawyer at the helm. At the same time, the show has long come in second to the “Today” show on NBC. As such, many staff members involved with “Good Morning America” are predicting that major changes will be taking place on the show after Sawyer leaves.