Piers Morgan replacing Larry King? Slumping ratings are forcing a change at CNN

ATLANTA, GA—The headline says it all and apparently its all but a done deal, Larry King is out, Piers Morgan is in. The Britain’s Got Talent judge is about to ink a £5.5 million ($8,129,177) deal with CNN to replace Mr. King.

 

The former newspaper editor caught the interest of CNN executives with his talk show, Piers Morgan's Life Stories when he interviewed former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The host switch is supposed to occur in the fall (likely before fall sweepstakes) and CNN execs are hoping to rescue the time slot as ratings have fallen a full 3 percent since just last year alone. From January to March of this year, Mr. King’s viewership reached an all time low, with only 771,000 viewers tuning in; by contrast, The O’Reilly Factor garners well over 3 million viewers.

Mr. King, 76, has been on the air since 1985 and was a dominant force for years, but when competition showed up, Mr. King began to lose some of his audience. In part, his interview style morphed into something all but unrecognizable and currently is thoroughly uninteresting. Mr. King has no doubt secured a place in the television host’s hall of fame but he might well find himself with a plaque hanging across the street in the television host’s hall of shame.

-- Killswitch Politick

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