CNN’s new boss Chris Licht is trying to pull off a major coup for the struggling network by luring away two of his rival’s biggest stars.
According to Radar Online, Licht is trying to get Morning Joe hosts husband and wife Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to headline CNN’s new “reinvented” morning cast.
It was Licht, who co-created Morning Joe with Scarborough and writer John Ridley in 2007.
A source told Radar, “It’s unlikely that MSNBC will release her from her contract, but Chris is a patient man.”
According to the Radar report, when Licht left MSNBC for CBS in 2011, he was desperate to take Scarborough and Brzenzinski with him. The two were reportedly ok with the plan, but also couldn’t get out of their contracts at the time.
Brzenzinski was brought to the liberal network by Scarborough after being fired from CBS in 2007.
Licht was named CNN’s new boss in February 2022 when longtime president Jeff Zucker resigned after failing to disclose an affair with an employee.
At the time, Scarborough told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘He’s very tough, pardon the sports analogy, but he’s like a tough midfielder, he’s not going to sit in a board office trying to figure out what to do.’
Morning Joe hosts, husband and wife team Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzenzinski, have been working on the show since 2007
CNN’s new boss Chris Licht, pictured here in Cannes in June, has said he plans to “reinvent” the tanking network’s morning programming.
The former Florida representative said he felt Licht would bring a “factual” and “refreshing” approach to CNN’s broadcasts.
He added: “I’m really excited as a news viewer. It is going to be great.’
In October 2021, it was widely reported that Scarborough and Brzezinski had entered contract negotiations with bosses at NBC. With Scarborough, he is said to be aiming for $31 million a year.
Just a few months later, in January, it was announced that MSNBC would extend Morning Joe by an hour beginning in April. This meant Scarborough and Brzenzinski could be seen on the network 25 hours a week.
Sources say it’s extremely unlikely that Scarborugh or Brzezinski will be released from their contracts with MSNBC
During and after the Trump presidency, the couple were among the most consistent critics of the former apprentice manager.
Scarborough is a former Republican congressman who left the GOP in 2017 over the party’s relentless support for Trump.
Recently, Licht said he wants to put CNN back at the center of politics, including asking hosts to stop calling Trump’s allegations of voter fraud “the big lie.”
Licht said in May that CNN’s morning show would be “reinvented” in the fall of 2022.
He was quoted by The Wrap as saying: “[To] Be honest we are trying to disrupt the aired morning shows in this area and we believe we have the people and resources to do so.
In early June, the New York Post reported that Licht planned to fire any anchor that didn’t align with his vision for bipartisan news.
A source told Radar Online: ‘Chris’ first priority will be to fix CNN’s morning and prime-time programming. That’s where the big advertising money is. Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, and the morning hosts should be worried.”
It’s possible Licht knows Scarborough will be in a position of power in negotiations with his current management.
Licht told GQ in 2016 that Scarborough personally hand-picked many of the regulars who appear on his show and earned a lot of backing from the Comcast-owned channel.
He said: “It’s a very unique thing on television where you can say, ‘Nobody believed me, now look where we are. I brought us here, so I’ll continue to call the shots if you don’t mind.”
The pair have worked together since Morning Joe’s prequel, Scarborough Country. Licht told Time Magazine in 2011 that his MSNBC nickname was “Captain Intense.”
Licht left MSNBC in 2011 to join CBS, where he first worked on This Morning before leaving the ship to produce The Late Show with Stephen Colbert before taking on his current role.
In 2021, weekday prime-time viewership fell 38% on CNN, 34% on Fox News Channel and 25% on MSNBC, according to the company Nielsen.
The decline was less steep but still significant for evening television newscasts: 12% for ABC’s World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News; 14% on NBC’s Nightly News, Nielsen said.
According to June figures, MSNBC ranked second behind Fox News among networks for average daily viewers. The network reported an average of one million viewers compared to CNN’s 500,000, Mediaite reports.