CNN boss Chris Licht has asked Gayle King to host prime time interview show in addition to her CBS gig – CNN has its worst ratings in a decade, and Licht says it’s still ‘too early’ for his 9 month tenure to see changes
- King is currently the lead anchor of CBS Mornings, a job she would reportedly be able to keep while also hosting a once-a-week interview show for CNN
- Licht has now been the top man at CNN for nine months, though the network continues to struggle in the ratings gams
- Licht is reportedly in conversations with players from across the entertainment industry to potentially court them over to his primetime lineup
CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht has reportedly offered CBS’ Gayle King a weekly interview show on his ailing network.
According to a report from Puck News, Licht recently approached King, who current hosts CBS Mornings, to pitch her on his idea for her role at CNN.
Licht, points out the report, is the one who brought King to the CBS morning show last decade, when he was an executive producer. The pair have remained close since.
What Licht has reportedly offered King, is the opportunity to host a weekly CNN show, while keeping her CBS Mornings gig.
Gayle King (left) has known CNN boss Chris Licht (right) for the better part of 10 years, as he was the one who brought her over to anchor CBS Mornings
CNN, where Chris Licht took over as chairman and CEO nine months ago, following the ousting of Jeff Zucker amid an investigation into a consensual relationship
Licht, who is about nine-months into his tenure as CNN’s top boss, has been having conversations with ‘dozens and dozens’ of people to potentially court them for various roles at the network, a spokesperson told Puck.
After exploding onto the CNN scene last year following Jeff Zucker’s unceremonious ousting, Licht promised big, balanced changes to the network that had moved not-so-gradually to the political left during the Trump years.
In a recent interview with the LA Times, Licht said that many of the changes he’s looking to implement at the network have not yet been executed.
He added that he hopes ‘CNN is better in that I’m allowing people to do their jobs and leaning into the talent that we have here.’
The answer, however, may not be so cheery.
The network’s ratings have continued to decline to its worst figures in a history.
CNN This Morning, the only show Licht has established during his brief tenure, is a ratings bomb and earlier this month experienced its least-viewed week since launch, averaging just over 330,000 viewers – a pitiful figure compared to MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and Fox & Friends.
Profits have also slumped nearly 25 percent since the height of the Trump era, when the network would do nightly battle with the president, largely at the behest of Zucker.
Gayle King would reportedly be able to keep her CBS mornings job alongside the potential CNN interviewing gig
Licht said it remains too soon to judge how the changes he’s implemented at CNN are playing out, though the network continues to struggle in the ratings
A Gayle King CNN show could deliver a partial answer to the ongoing question of what Licht plans to do with prime time programming at the network.
He has previously floated the idea of importing talent from the world of late night television – something he is familiar with after his time leading the team at Stephen Colbert’s show.
In the recent LA Times interview, Licht would not admit to explicitly courting comedians of sorts for his network, but said he was having discussions with ‘culturally relevant individuals from the worlds of entertainment, sports and comedy who can bring fresh and unique perspectives to the news.’
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