AP) — CNN announced on Thursday it is remaking its morning lineup and will bring Soledad O’Brien back as host of a “conversational ensemble” show beginning next year.
O’Brien’s program is set to air on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET.
Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin will be hosts of a news show that will air from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., the network said. Banfield, most recently at ABC News, played a prominent role at MSNBC a decade ago. Sambolin has worked in local news in Chicago.
CNN’s “American Morning,” where O’Brien worked from 2003-2007, has struggled competitively. Conversational shows “Fox & Friends” on Fox News Channel and “Morning Joe” on MSNBC do better in ratings and buzz, and CNN is often eclipsed by its sister channel HLN with Robin Meade in the morning.
