by CNN spent years trying to compete in the cutthroat realm of chatty morning television, switching formats in hopes of catching up with breakfast-time staples like “Morning Joe” and “Good Morning America.”
That experiment never caught on with viewers and is now coming to an end.
In his first significant programming move since joining the network in the fall, Mark Thompson, president of CNN, announced Monday that the network would abandon the morning chat show format at the end of the month. Instead, its morning programming will focus on straight news coverage, the kind of basic reporting that Thompson, a former editor at the BBC and The New York Times, has championed.
“CNN This Morning” co-anchors Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly are in talks about new roles at the network.
“I am well aware that today’s announcement means great uncertainty for many valued colleagues,” Thompson wrote in a memo to employees, adding that “change and uncertainty are inevitable in an industry that is undergoing a revolution.”
“CNN This Morning” ratings have lagged far behind its competitors, according to Nielsen data. The show has drawn about 322,000 viewers on average this year, far behind “Fox and Friends” (1.07 million) and “Morning Joe” (988,000).
Before Monday’s announcement, CNN executives had recognized internally that lackluster viewership and relatively high expenses required change, according to a person familiar with the discussions who would speak only on condition of anonymity to avoid strained relations. Thompson had pondered what to do about those issues for months, culminating this weekend when he informed Mattingly and Harlow of his decision.
In the memo, Thompson noted that CNN had “decided to reshape the way we approach mornings on national cable.” Among other changes, Jim Acosta, a host and former White House correspondent who had been hosting a weekend show, will return to weekdays with a 10 a.m. show.
CNN dove into the friendly, joke-filled morning show space in 2013 at the urging of its then-new president, Jeff Zucker, a “Today” alum. Zucker hired ABC’s Chris Cuomo to co-host a show called “New Day,” with a shiny set and a production team based in Manhattan.
Zucker’s successor, Chris Licht, co-creator of “Morning Joe,” attempted his own spin on the format and renamed the show “CNN This Morning” in 2022. The setup had problems from the start: One co-host, Don Lemon , had to apologize after making insensitive comments about women and aging, and was eventually banned from the network.
Monday’s move effectively eliminates one of the last vestiges of Mr. Licht’s time at the network; he was overthrown in June. After his departure, CNN’s interim leaders (a group of four executives known internally as the Quad) put their own stamp on the network’s programming and added Mattingly as a permanent host.
Under changes announced Monday, the Manhattan-based morning team will be disbanded and oversight of early-week programming will move to Atlanta.
The move comes as CNN looks for ways to save costs while attempting a high-risk transition to a digital future amid the industry-wide decline of cable television. Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, is grappling with a significant debt load and has cut costs at CNN since taking over the network in 2022.
