CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert says he's cutting ties with the television show he and the late Gene Siskel made famous.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Ebert says Disney-ABC Domestic Television has decided to take the show "in a new direction" and he won't be associated with it.

His announcement comes a day after Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper said he's leaving the nationally syndicated "At The Movies with Ebert & Roeper."

Ebert and Siskel started the program in 1975 with "Sneak Previews" on PBS, with the show later moving to commercial television. Roeper joined the show after Siskel died of a brain tumor in 1999.

Ebert hasn't been on the air for two years because of health problems that have left him unable to speak.

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