CNN To Cease HLN’s Live Programming As Part of Layoffs And Budget Cuts
01.12.2022 - 21:17
/ deadline.com
UPDATED, 9:16 AM: Some of the major cutbacks at CNN are occurring at HLN, which will cease live programming and will partner with Investigation Discovery to produce its true-crime slate.
A simulcast of CNN This Morning will take the place of HLN Morning Express with Robin Meade, according to a source with knowledge of the plans. Meade is leaving the network along with staffers who were part of the layoffs, and Weekend Express also will be dropped from the schedule.
CNN This Morning is the new title of CNN’s retooled morning show, a key priority of CNN Worldwide’s chairman and CEO Chris Licht. It launched last month with Kaitlan Collins, Poppy Harlow and Don Lemon as co-anchors.
The HLN changes were first reported in Variety and Puck.
Licht announced to staffers on Wednesday that layoffs would commence this week.
PREVIOUSLY, Wednesday: CNN started to inform staffers of layoffs, as its chairman and CEO Chris Licht wrote that notices will go out on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Today we will notify a limited number of individuals, largely some of our paid contributors, as part of a recalibrated reporting strategy,” Licht wrote in a memo, shared on Twitter by CNN’s Oliver Darcy. “Tomorrow we will notify impacted employees, and tomorrow afternoon I will follow up with more details of these changes.”
Licht had announced earlier this fall that the network would cut positions. He wrote that he “recently described this process as a gut punch, because I know that is how it feels for all of us.”
“It will be a difficult time for everyone,” Licht wrote in the memo. “If your job has been impacted, you will learn through an in-person meeting or via Zoom, depending on your location.” He added that the affected employees would receive