NEW YORK -- More hard news and documentary programming are the foundations of a new programming lineup announced Wednesday by CNN.
The new schedule, which debuts Monday, features an increase of more than 4-1/2 hours of live news broadcasts on weekends, the cabler's first-ever weekly docu series, national TV's only newscast delivered regularly from Los Angeles, and key anchor reassignments.
"We're defining CNN as the broadest, deepest and most far-reaching news on television," CNN/USA VP Sid Bedingfield told Daily Variety. "We're the smartest news on television and now we have a schedule that really showcases our talents."
Fighting off rivals
While 17-year-old CNN is still the leader in the 24-hour news race, the changes are clearly intended to bolster CNN's standing against MSNBC and Fox News Channel, as well as CNBC and local 24-hour news channels.
Dwindling ratings have been on the minds of CNN honchos for some time, with 1997 bringing in the lowest 24-hour ratings in the cabler's history.
"When CNN started, they were a picture and headline service, and they were the only ones doing it," said one industry insider. "They had a need to once again define what a 24-hour news channel is all about."
CNN/USA prexy Rick Kaplan said both the new programming and the repositioning of anchors "allow us to more effectively provide information that helps our viewers understand and interpret today's complex news environment."
The changes:
- Senior White House correspondent Wolf Blitzer will host CNN's redesigned Sunday politico talker "Late Edition."
- CNN will bow "CNN Saturday" and "CNN Sunday," a series of live, half-hour newscasts airing in the afternoons and evenings at the top of every hour. The newscasts will feature anchors Bobbie Battista, Miles O'Brien and Laurie Dhue in Atlanta and Gene Randall in Washington, D.C.
- Weekdays at 12 a.m. (ET/9 p.m. PT), Jim Moret will host "Newsnight," the only West Coast newscast on national television.
- CNN will reassign key anchor teams. "Early Edition," airing weekdays at 7-9 a.m., reunites the anchor team of Donna Kelley and Leon Harris in Atlanta; Bill Hemmer and former CNN/SI anchor Daryn Kagan follow with "CNN Morning News" from 9-11:30 a.m. in Atlanta; and "Newsday," airing 12-12:30 p.m. from Washington, D.C., will be co-anchored by CNN senior VP and Washington, D.C., bureau chief Frank Sesno and Jeanne Meserve. "The World Today," airing from 8-9 p.m., will be hosted by Joie Chen and Martin Savidge in Atlanta. Chen will also co-anchor "The World Today," at 10 p.m. from Atlanta, with Moret in Los Angeles.
- "CNN Perspectives," the new weekly documentary series, will air Sunday nights at 8 p.m. and bows Jan. 18. The series will feature newly commissioned work from independent filmmakers and updated, reversioned films produced by Turner Original Prods., newly named CNN Prods.
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