CNN to End 'John King, USA'
CNN will end John King's 6 p.m. show, John King, USA on June 29, though King will stay with
the network as its lead national campaign correspondent.
Starting July 2, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer will expand an hour to run
from 4-7 p.m., taking over King's timeslot.
"This is John's seventh presidential campaign, fourth with CNN, and making
him available across our programming lineup allows us to better tap his skills
and experience, especially on the ground reporting in major battleground states
and among critical voting blocks," wrote CNN executive VP Ken Jautz in an
internal memo provided to B&C.
John King, USA launched in March 2010
in the 7 p.m. hour, shifting back to 6 p.m. last September to accommodate Erin
Burnett's new show. The show generally failed to drive strong ratings, and a
CNN spokeswoman said Wednesday that having King in the field "is where we think
John will have the greatest impact."
CNN has been under pressure to make
changes to its lineup in the face of declining ratings, which recently hit a
20-year low in primetime. Speaking at an industry conference last month, Phil
Kent, CEO of CNN parent company Turner Broadcasting, said he was "very unhappy"
with CNN's primetime ratings" and that "we haven't put the best shows on the
air."
In his remarks, Kent offered support
for CNN primetime hosts Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan and Burnett, adding, "we
have some other shows that probably need to be replaced."
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