Jeff Zucker resigns from CNN effective immediately 1:36
New York (CNN Business) --
Chris Licht, the producer who created "Morning Joe," revamped "CBS This Morning" and reinvigorated "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," has been tapped to run CNN once Discovery merges with WarnerMedia this spring, according to three sources with knowledge of the plan.
The parties involved have yet to comment on the early announcement.
But Licht's hiring will be announced next week, one of the sources said.
Licht is the creator, executive producer and writer of "The Late Show" and executive vice president of special programming at ViacomCBS, in addition to advising the entire company on programming issues.
CNN exec resigns after WarnerMedia chief accuses her and former network boss Zucker of violating standards
Licht has more than two decades of television news experience.
He has a reputation as a hands-on producer and talent manager with a keen interest in politics and news.
He has a contract with CBS that ends in April, one of the sources said, which lines up with Discovery's plans.
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AT&T, the current owner of CNN, is preparing to separate CNN and the rest of WarnerMedia in the coming weeks.
Warner and Discovery will then merge and Discovery CEO David Zaslav will lead the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery.
The merger is expected to take effect in April.
Zaslav has been discussing potential candidates to run CNN, the sources said, in the weeks since longtime CNN chief Jeff Zucker resigned about a month ago.
Zucker abruptly departed on February 2 after admitting to a consensual romantic relationship with Allison Gollust.
Corporate policy requires that such a relationship be disclosed to human resources, which Zucker and Gollust did not do.
Zucker's revelations stemmed from an internal investigation that began when prime-time host Chris Cuomo was fired in December 2021.
Gollust left CNN in mid-February.
WarnerMedia said an investigation found "violations of company policies, including CNN's news standards and practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust and Chris Cuomo."
The company has not detailed the violations and Gollust's representatives have defended their conduct.
Since the reorganization, three veteran CNN executives have been running the news network on an interim basis.
Chris Litch
With Licht, Zaslav would bring fresh eyes to CNN, mirroring what sources said at the time of Zucker's departure: that Discovery executives see Zucker's departure as a "fresh start" for the news organization.
Unlike Zucker, who oversaw WarnerMedia's news and sports assets, Licht's role will see him exclusively in charge of news, according to one of the sources.
Licht's impending promotion was first reported by Dylan Byers of Puck, who called Licht "the wunderkind producer of his generation with the ability to win over talent and see value where others don't."
The roots of Licht's journalism are in local news.
She worked at KNBC, the powerful NBC affiliate in Los Angeles, during the OJ Simpson trial.
She later worked for the NBC affiliate in San Francisco.
In 2005 he joined MSNBC as executive producer of "Scarborough Country," hosted by Joe Scarborough.
He then built a morning show around Scarborough and his colleagues, occasionally even appearing on air from the control room.
In 2011, Licht jumped over to CBS and engineered "CBS This Morning," a new CBS News production.
She moved to "The Late Show" in 2016 and has worked closely with Colbert ever since.
On "The Late Show," Licht has leaned heavily into the news, often booking political guests and creating live events after presidential speeches.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, "The Late Show" adjusted its programming and added a subject matter expert for Colbert to interview.
CNN's up-to-date coverage of the war has drawn praise from Discovery executives in recent days.
"I've been watching CNN a lot," Zaslav said on an investor call Thursday.
While other news channels have people "sitting behind desks and giving their opinion on what's going on," he said, CNN is "on the ground with journalists in bulletproof vests and helmets who are doing what journalists do best, which is fighting to tell the truth in dangerous places.
So we can all be safe and we can assess what's going on."
Zaslav called it a "proud moment" for the network.