By Kevin McCauley
CNN PULLS PLUG ON KING
CNN, which is struggling in the cable news ratings war, has pulled the plug on the daily “John King, USA” and moving the titular correspondent to its 2012 presidential campaign coverage.
Wolf Blitzer’s “The Situation Room” will be extended an hour to cover the vacant 6 p.m. EST time slot.
King will contribute to that program as well as Anderson Cooper’s “AC360” and other programming.
King has been chief national correspondent for the news network since 2005. June 28 will be King’s last show.
CNN’s ratings have dropped more than 50 percent over 2011 and King was sitting behind Fox and MSNBC in his time slot.
BEHAR TO JOIN CURRENT TV
Joy Behar, co-host of “The View,” will have host a one-hour primetime program on Al Gore’s Current TV beginning in September.
It will feature social issues, politics and cultural topics and a rotating ensemble of journalists, analysts and satirists.
Behar is a “beloved veteran TV personality with her finger on the pulse of what viewers care about,” said Gore in a statement.
She will guest anchor Eliot Spitzer’s “Viewpoint” program for a week beginning June 18 while the former New York Governor takes a vacation. That program will be renamed “Joy Behar: One Week Only *Until the Fall.”
Behar has been with the View since 1997. She hosted the “The Joy Behar Show” on HLN until Dec. 15 of last year.
She began her career in the early 1980s as a stand-up comedian.
NEAL NAMED MARKETING CHIEF AT E!
Jen Neal, a former chief marketing officer at BBDO North America, has been named executive VP-marketing at E!, the pop culture network that is part of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.
She is responsible for branding, advertising, media strategies, promotion and alliances across the various E! platforms. Neal joined E! in February as a consultant.
Prior to BBDO, Neal was at Omnicom’s PHD in charge of the New York office and relationships with as BBC, Discovery Networks, HBO and Travel Channel.
E! launches a repositioning effort on July 9 focused on “Pop of Culture” tagline.
Neal reportes to Suzanne Kolb, E! president.
|