Gayle King is set to “finalize” a deal to host a new weekly primetime show on CNN.
Both Variety And The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the cable news network is courting King in hopes that she will attract more viewers amid a ratings slump.
Under the announced deal, King would continue to anchor CBS Matinees. The deal is not unheard of, given that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is a correspondent for the CBS magazine show. 60 minutes.
CNN is also reportedly negotiating a contract with former NBA star and current NBA analyst Charles Barkley to host alongside King.
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The cable network has changed programming and moved talent since new CEO Chris Licht joined the company last May.
Licht’s goal has been to boost the ratings, but so far the changes have had the opposite effect.
THE WSJ reported that CNN just recorded its “lowest quarterly rating average since 2015.” Citing Nielsen figures, the newspaper said the network averaged 535,000 prime-time viewers for the first quarter as of March 24, marking a 35% drop from a year ago.
Licht previously produced by management The Late Show with Stephen Colbert And CBS this morning.
Its biggest on-air change to date was the launch of a new morning news program hosted by Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and former CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins.
The show failed to catch on and instead regularly posts lower ratings than the previous iteration of the program called New day, with hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar.