CNN to Crown King in April
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 1/9/2007 5:52:00 PM
Pasadena, Calif. -- CNN will mark talk-show host Larry King's 50 years in television in April with a week of specials ranging from a roast to an interview of King during his program, with CBS anchor Katie Couric as his interrogator.
Bill Maher will host the roast, to be telecast during King-Sized Week starting April 16 at 9 p.m. each day. Executives said the network is negotiating with Angelina Jolie to participate in one of the evenings of the event.
King, talking with television critics meeting here for the next two weeks, noted that his contract is up in 2009, at which point he will have been at CNN for 24 years. Past that, "If they want me, I'll stay," he said, quoting a Milton Berle line, "Retire? To what?"
King reminisced about his career and opined on the state of the business. He said he disagreed with the business trend to target viewers younger than 55 years old, quipping that, as a 73-year-old man, technically, his show is unappealing to himself. If a guy is 65, has a steady job, owns a Cadillac and is looking to replace it with a Lexus or a Lincoln, "Why don't we want him?" he asked rhetorically.
CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton explained that the network's focus on 18- to 55-year-old viewers is a business decision; the network follows where the money goes, he added.
Another business decision -- to build CNN's broadband business -- has been a success, he added. Broadband users accessed 630 million videos from the network's Web site in 2006, he said, adding that each one of those was viewed with an attached commercial. More video was accessed from CNN.com than from the broadcast network sites combined, he said.
Walton also noted that CNN will launch an HD version of the network this fall. CNN already signed one distributor for the HD network, which he did not identify.
On CNN Headline News, the company will add quarterly specials in 2007, hosted by Glenn Beck. The first topic will be global warming. Beck joked that he's taking on the topic despite the advice of staffers that he will destroy his credentials as a conservative if he admits that global warming exists.
Critics took hits at the inclusion of nonjournalists such as Beck and Nancy Grace to the lineups of the all-news networks. Executives said the creation of "point-of-view" programming in primetime has been a boon to ratings.
Grace's program posted the fastest ratings growth in cable in 2005, tripling the ratings for her time period, while Beck's show posted the greatest ratings growth in 2006, said Ken Jautz, executive vice president of CNN Worldwide.
He and other executives stressed that CNN's brand is about journalism and integrity, but critics questioned whether the commentators -- especially Grace -- fit that brand definition.
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