CNN shakes up programming

CNN is making a slew of changes to its programming, including adding new weekend shows and tweaking its weekday evening lineup, the network announced Monday.

Anchor and senior political correspondent Abby Phillip will be getting a show in prime time, airing at 10 p.m. on weeknights, while anchors Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper and Kaitlan Collins will remain in their 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. slots respectively. Chief legal analyst Laura Coates will also continue to anchor an evening show at 11 p.m.

Former NBC reporter and anchor Kasie Hunt will return to morning television, anchoring CNN’s “Early Start” program from 5-6 a.m., while Chief White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly will join longtime CNN host Poppy Harlow as a co-host of the network’s three-hour morning news program “CNN This Morning.”

Additionally, journalists Chris Wallace and Christiane Amanpour will host Saturday morning shows airing at 10 and 11 a.m., respectively.

The programming changes come just weeks after the network’s top executive, Chris Licht, was fired by CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, amid a string of controversies his decisions and editorial strategy had sparked internally and externally.

The changes Monday also come during a time of declining ratings across the cable news business generally, but at CNN most acutely.

The network is still reeling from the ouster of several of its top hosts in recent years, such as Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo.

Under Licht, CNN held a rare town hall event with former President Trump earlier this summer that was widely panned by critics for the political boost some observers said it handed the former president.

Updated: 10:57 a.m.