This week, Ms. Couric is planning to acknowledge one of the worst-kept secrets in television: that she is leaving the “CBS Evening News” after five years. Then, as soon as she returns from London, where she will be anchoring the network’s coverage of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday, CBS will announce her successor during the first week of May.

Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images Katie Couric, anchor of CBS’s evening news since late 2006.

The meticulously arranged exit plan was described by four people with knowledge of it, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was not supposed to be revealed before the formal announcement.

Ms. Couric’s contract with CBS ends on June 4, and the network is said to want a month for a transition. Scott Pelley, a correspondent on “60 Minutes,” is expected to succeed Ms. Couric. A transition has been fodder for the media for most of a month, but Ms. Couric insisted as recently as April 13 that she had not decided about staying or going.

Ms. Couric had scheduled a publicity tour for her new book, “The Best Advice I Ever Got,” for that week, and in almost every interview, she batted away questions about her future. “I’m just in the middle of figuring it out,” she told Matt Lauer on her former show, “Today.” “I’m not in a position to discuss it at this point,” she told Barbara Walters on “The View.”

Privately, some at CBS complained about the public uncertainty surrounding the “CBS Evening News.” But the exit plan will begin to clear the air.

CBS executives are interviewing candidates to be the executive producer of Mr. Pelley’s newscast, two of the people with knowledge of the plan said.

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