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Former CNN and NBCUniversal boss Jeff Zucker, private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments have formalized plans for a joint venture.

Michael Bass, EVP of programming at CNN, is leaving the network at the end of the year.

Jeff Zucker, who left WarnerMedia last February just before its merger with Discovery, is in discussions with RedBird Capital to lead a $1 billion sports investment fund backed by the private equity outfit.

who was fired from CNN over his role in advising his older brother throughout a slew of sexual misconduct scandals — signaled that he did the series of fluffy TV chats on his 9 p.m. show at the behest of his former boss, Jeff Zucker.“This idea that Chris Cuomo had no boss, Chris Cuomo did as he liked when he liked how he liked — these are people who don’t know our business,” Cuomo said in an interview with podcast “On with Kara Swisher.” “Did I think that they should be considered a conflict of interest? Ab initio, inherently all day long,” he continued.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Jake Tapper, Laura Coates and Alisyn Camerota will take on temporary assignments on CNN’s primetime schedule as the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network prepares to cover the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent, will host the network’s 9 p.m. from Washington, while Camerota and Laura Coates will share anchor responsibilities between 10 p.m. and midnight. Tapper is the first anchor to get a semi-regular perch at 9 since the much-scrutinized departure of the time slot’s previous occupant, Chris Cuomo. Camerota. who has held down slots in both the morning and the afternoon, and Coates, a legal analyst who has in thepast been under consideration for a primetime assignment, will take over a time period that has been led by Don Lemon, who is moving soon to work on a new CNN morning program.

CNN president Chris Licht has hired his first big on-air personalities — John Miller and Dr. Rara Narula — since succeeding Jeff Zucker in April with the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger.John Miller will join CNN as Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst. Miller comes from the most recent position of NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism.

John Miller as CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. Miller most recently served as the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.Prior to that, he worked as a correspondent for CBS News and ABC News, where he landed a rare interview with Osama bin Laden in 1998.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Brian Stelter signed off from the last installment of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” Aug. 21, the number of mainstream vehicles analyzing an increasingly confusing media industry shrank even further.  Stelter bid farewell the same day Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan ended her run — asking such notables as Carl Bernstein and Jeffrey Goldberg on air whether the press is doing enough to cover topics ranging from disinformation to climate change. The lead story of his hour was a dire one: his program’s own cancellation after three decades. “It’s going to be on you to hold CNN accountable,” Stelter told viewers in the show’s waning moments, later adding: “The free world needs a reliable source.” 

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCNN sure likes to keep ’em guessing.After canceling media-affairs show “Reliable Sources,” which often tilted at the content of Fox News Channel, CNN plans to air a previously-announced documentary mini-series about that network’s owners.“The Murdochs: Empire of Influence,” a seven-part documentary series previously planned for the now-scuttled streaming site CNN+, will debut on CNN”s flagship cable outlet in the fall. The original series will debut with a two-episode premiere on Sunday, September 25.The series was produced with The New York Times and Left/Right and is based on the New York Times Magazine article “How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World,” by journalists Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg. They serve as consulting producers on the series. The program aims to examine the rise of Rupert Murdoch, his global influence and the battle for succession among his children. In an announcement about the series in February, CNN said the series “charts the high-stakes deal making, political maneuvering and dynastic betrayals — and how the ambitions of one family birthed one of the largest media empires in history.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAnd now some news about the news program that covers the news.“Reliable Sources,” the media-news program that has been on CNN since 1993, is the latest piece of content to go on the chopping block under the cost-cutting regime of Warner Bros. Discovery.

After over two decades on CNN and an exposing 2020 digital scandal Jeffrey Toobin is leaving CNN.

Vanity Fair profile, the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” and her new team at Endeavor Talent Agency were actively seeking new opportunities for her career as recently as last year. Maddow and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro were reportedly taking meetings with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Showtime, CNN and others through summer 2021, ultimately turning down offers from the likes of CNN’s then-president Jeff Zucker and a lucrative opportunity with SiriusXM.Per Vanity Fair:There was a much bigger opportunity on the table: SiriusXM was poised to offer Maddow closer to $40 million plus a first-look deal, sources told me.

As soap fans reel from the news that Days Of Our Lives will no longer be airing on NBC, Us Weekly is breaking down everything you need to know about how to watch your favorite soap operas.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAfter a long and much-publicized interruption, Chris Cuomo wants to get after it again.Cuomo, who made that phrase the mission statement for his 9 p.m. program on CNN, is taking his bulldog demeanor and lean-in anchoring style to NewsNation, the still-nascent news outlet backed by large station owner Nexstar Media, which has in recent months made a series of acquisitions aimed at bolstering its presence in the media sector.

Kris Coratti Kelly is joining CNN Worldwide as executive vice president and head of global communications.

Chris Cuomo reportedly tried to make a drastic career change after being let go from CNN.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSUN VALLEY, Idaho — David Zaslav was upbeat as he arrived in Sun Valley, Idaho on Tuesday for Allen & Co.’s gathering of business media and tech moguls. The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO had kind words for Netflix and “Stranger Things,” and he told reporters that he expects the annual summit to be “a great week” amid “a lot of turmoil in the business.”Zaslav indicated that Warner Bros.

She said she told former former CNN President Jeff Zucker she was going to leave back in January.

Mediaite reported Thursday.Reason: The term adopts “branding” favored by the Democratic Party.Licht expressed a “preference” for the adjustment after someone on a Tuesday conference call with management and producers asked his opinion on Trump’s “Big Lie,” Mediaite said – adding that staffers “have taken it as a clear directive from the new boss” nonetheless.CNN and CNN staffers did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.Mediaite said Licht encouraged producers to instead use “Trump election lie” or “election lies” in chyrons and elsewhere. CNN staff is expected to gather Thursday for its first town hall since Licht took over at the end of February.Mediaite spoke to one CNN staffer who said some staff were rankled by the perceived “Big Lie” directive, and speculated that it may be coming from a board member at newly merged parent company Warner Bros.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA second senior CNN executive who was deeply involved in the launch of the company’s CNN+ streaming-video hub is set to leave the company.In a memo to staffers delivered Wednesday, CNN CEO Chris Licht said Alex MacCallum, who had been named interim chief of CNN’s digital operations, was planning to leave the Warner Bros. Discovery unit on June 30. Wendy Brundige, senior vice president of global digital video, will take over the role of interim chief.

Axios.And if not? There’s the door, Axios reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.New CNN boss Chris Licht, whose predecessor Jeff Zucker is largely responsible for CNN turning hard-left at the outset of the Trump administration, wants to give the brand’s existing faces the chance to try out its more nuanced, facts-based approach to doing the news.“For on-air talent, that includes engaging in respectful interviews that don’t feel like PR stunts,” Axios wrote. “For producers and bookers, that includes making programming decisions that are focused on nuance, not noise.”CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.Axios said CNN isn’t going to “shy away” from personality programming – those partisan voices just won’t dominate the way had in the era of Zucker, who was ousted from the network over a longstanding consensual relationship with a co-worker.Licht, who most recently was the longtime showrunner of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS, took over last month.

NEW YORK -- Chris Wallace will host a Sunday night interview show for CNN starting this fall, the network said Wednesday in announcing a new home for the best-known personality from the since-imploded CNN+ streaming service.“Look Who's Talking to Chris Wallace,” which will also air on HBO Max, was the program he was doing for CNN+ before new corporate owners Warner Bros. Discovery shut the service down after only a month.Wallace, formerly of Fox News Channel, has made some appearances on the television network, including on primary coverage Tuesday night.Actor Eva Longoria, who had also signed up for the streaming service, will do a series for CNN where she travels in Mexico to sample the cuisine and culture.

Speaking at the Warner Bros Discovery upfront, new CNN boss Chris Licht delivered his most expansive public comments since taking over from Jeff Zucker, promising a morning show “disruptor” and a challenge to cable news norms.

Almost three years after CNN anchor Don Lemon was accused of sexually assaulting a man in a Sag Harbor, NY, bar in 2018, the incendiary lawsuit ended in a whimper.

Standing just a few feet away from the first POTUS to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner since 2016, Daily Show host Trevor Noah mixed the political with the pop culture to take an equal opportunity dig at everyone tonight — including the people who pay him the big bucks.

“Reliable Sources” host said Sunday was doomed from the start because of the timing of its launch the plans of its new owner, Warner Bros. Discovery.Less than a month after the launch of CNN+ — a subscription video streaming news service offshoot of CNN — Warner Bros.

Whoopi Goldberg, William Shatner, Amy Poehler, Alex Kurtzman, Maury Povich, Warner Bros Television Group chairman Channing Dungey and producer and media investor Jeff Sagansky have been selected as the recipients of NATPE’s 2022 Tartikoff Legacy Awards. The awards, in their 18th year, are given to acknowledge a select group of television professionals who have demonstrated the highest degree of excellence in their field.

UPDATED: CNN+, the news network’s expensive venture into subscription streaming, will shut down at the end of the month.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe finale of CNN+’s “Land of the Giants: Titans of Tech,” titled “The Netflix Effect,” launches Thursday, perfect timing for an entertainment industry that is both reeling amid Netflix’s shocking Q1 subscriber miss, poor second-quarter outlook and the wait to see if CNN+ can find its groove as quickly as it might need to in order to survive.Based on the “Land of the Giants” podcast from Vox Media’s Recode, the CNN+ docuseries explores the complicated histories of Meta (a.k.a. Facebook), Apple, Amazon, Google and now Netflix.

about to take over Jeff Zucker’s old role as head of CNN. Though Twitter has long become the go-to for journalists both absorbing and distributing information, the new honcho at one of the nation’s top outlets seems to believe the echo-chamber nature of the platform has become too much of a downside to carry on.“May 2 will be my first official day in the office at CNN & my last day on Twitter,” he tweeted Monday morning.

recovering following a successful kidney transplant surgery earlier this week. He received the kidney from donor Samira Jafari, the deputy managing editor of CNN’s investigations unit, whom he called his “heroine.”“How do you thank someone who gets you off dialysis and saves your life?” Roth asked in a Friday note to colleagues.

Interview magazine, bashing women execs for paving a path to success by “act[ing] like the dude.”She then accused people who tend to veer towards a liberal world view as being the largest offenders.“Extremely dangerous because it tends to come from the left,” Griffin said. The “My Life on the D-List” star added, “Jonathan Chait is a writer who I think would be surprised if I called him a casual misogynist.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAs Discovery and WarnerMedia leaders go full throttle on final merger preparation for the anticipated April 8 closing date, the industry is eager to learn how Warner Bros., HBO and the former Turner cable networks will exist alongside Discovery’s large portfolio of global channels and content operations.The formal tying-of-the-knot can’t come soon enough for executives, staff, creatives and talent at both companies, who also are still largely in the dark about potential structural changes, management shifts and strategic pivots.On Tuesday morning, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced that he would be stepping down ahead of the merger. Besides that, there’s a rudimentary “initial wordmark” logo for Warner Bros.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJon Adler, a veteran behind the production of many of CNN’s original series, has been named a senior vice president overseeing that programming at CNN as the WarnerMedia unit is creating more documentary content for its soon-to-launch streaming outlet, CNN Plus.“With the expansion of our mandate to create premium long-form programming for CNN Plus, Jon’s experience developing distinctive content for CNN linear will now benefit our newest platform,” said Amy Entelis, CNN’s executive vice president for talent and content development, in a memo to staffers. “Jon is one of the most passionate advocates for all things CNN and we are excited to see him embark on this new chapter.” Adler reports to Entelis.

Chris Cuomo is arguing that CNN firing him led to «his journalistic integrity unjustifiably smeared.»In November, Chris was suspended indefinitely from the news network after documents indicated that he was more deeply involved in helping his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, build a legal defense against multiple allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.Months later, he's asking CNN for $125 million in damages, claiming he was wrongfully terminated based on false claims that he defied journalistic ethics. The 51-year-old newsman, who started at CNN in 2013, claims he was transparent with the news network's leadership team about his involvement with his brother's personal and professional troubles.Chris further claims that not only was the leadership team aware of everything, but they had previously changed their code of ethics in order to allow him to interview his brother, who was the governor of New York at the time, amid the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to boost ratings.Once scrutiny toward his brother intensified, however, Chris claims that CNN leadership, including Jeff Zucker, who was president of the network at the time, changed their tune, calling for his termination and citing his alleged involvement with his brother as well as alleged sexual misconduct claims against him. Chris is claiming that neither his involvement with Andrew nor the sexual misconduct claims, which he says are «false,» were properly investigated by CNN.In addition to claiming he was unlawfully terminated, Chris and his legal team are also arguing that CNN breached their contract with him by not enforcing that his former colleagues could not speak ill of him.

EXCLUSIVE: After months of legal anticipation after his December 2021 firing by Jeff Zucker, Chris Cuomo has just launched the official opening salvo in what looks to be protracted battle with CNN for not only $125 million in cash, but his character and family drama as well.