CNN Hires Eliot Spitzer, Kathleen Parker to Host Show
Former governor of New York Eliot Spitzer. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
CNN, the 24-hour cable news network owned by Time Warner Inc., said former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and print journalist Kathleen Parker will co-host a nightly roundtable TV show.
The new show will start in the fall and air weeknights at 8 p.m., Jon Klein, the president of CNN U.S., said today in an e- mailed statement.
CNN is revamping its prime-time lineup to reverse ratings that have fallen after the 2008 U.S. presidential election amid increasing competition with NBC Universal’s MSNBC and News Corp.’s Fox News. Parker, who describes herself as a “rational conservative,” and Spitzer, a Democrat forced to resign as governor in March 2008 after a call-girl scandal, will exchange opinions and analysis with guests and contributors, CNN said.
“CNN is in the ratings doldrums right now,” said Brad Adgate, research director at Horizon Media, a New York-based advertising company. “They have to create appointment viewing, and they’re going to have to attract viewers that are going to watch them regardless of the events of the day.”
That’s where Fox News and MSNBC have excelled with personalities like Bill O’Reilly and Keith Olbermann, respectively, Adgate said. Spitzer and Parker’s as yet unnamed show will be up against those two opinionated hosts at 8 p.m.
“Other cable news channels force-feed viewers one narrow, predictable point of view; in contrast, CNN will be offering a lively roundup of all the best ideas -- presented by two of the most intelligent and outspoken figures in the country,” Klein said in his statement.
CNN Ratings
CNN is averaging 644,000 viewers a night in prime time this year, down 34 percent from the same period a year ago, according to data from Nielsen Co. Fox is averaging 2.11 million prime- time viewers, and MSNBC is drawing 782,000.
Spitzer, 51, became known as “the sheriff of Wall Street” as New York State attorney general from 1999 to 2006 when he collected billions in settlements from financial companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co. and American International Group Inc.
He later stepped down as governor of the state after he was identified as a client of the Emperors Club VIP, a high-priced prostitution ring. Since then, the former prosecutor has been a contributor to Slate.com, filled in occasionally as a host on MSNBC and made guest appearances on CNN.
Parker won a Pulitzer Prize this year for her commentary in the Washington Post. She started writing a political opinion column in 1987 at the Orlando Sentinel. The column was syndicated in 1995, and Parker joined the Post four years ago. Her writing now appears twice a week in more than 400 newspapers.
Parker and Palin
Parker was among the conservative commentators who questioned Sarah Palin’s qualifications during the 2008 election.
The show fills the time slot vacated by host Campbell Brown, who announced in May she was stepping down because her ratings at 8 p.m. were not where she wanted.
In the 8 p.m. hour, CNN is drawing 575,000 viewers on average since the start of 2010, down 36 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to Nielsen data. Fox averages 3.26 million viewers, and MSNBC gets an audience of 1.03 million.
Time Warner, based in New York, rose 28 cents to $31.83 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained 9.2 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net
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