CNN Plus has announced its first on-air hire, poaching former NBC News Way Too Early host Kasie Hunt.
The new WarnerMedia streaming service, which is set to launch in the first quarter of 2022, has tapped Hunt as its chief national affairs analyst. The eight-year NBC News and MSNBC veteran will host a daily show on CNN Plus (aka "CNN+"). She will also make appearances on the mother ship cable TV network, covering national and breaking news.
Hunt departed MSNBC's Way Too Early in July amid rumors she was headed to CNN. At NBC, she also served as a regular contributor to Morning Joe after anchoring Kasie DC on Sunday nights. Hunt also served as NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent and played a lead role in 2020 election night coverage for the network.
Formerly the Associated Press lead reporter on the Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign trail, Hunt joined NBC News as an off-air reporter and producer, covering Congress and politics. She began her on-air career with regular appearances on MBNBC as a political correspondent.
Hunt will be based in Washington, D.C., and starts the day after Labor Day (Sept. 7).
As for CNN Plus, WarnerMedia formally announced the streaming venture last month.
“CNN Plus will feature original, live, on demand and interactive programming as a standalone direct-to-consumer service with offerings that are separate and distinct from CNN, CNN International, HLN and CNN en Español linear TV channels,” the cable news company's announcement said.
