Celebrity News

Desperate CNN wooing Piers Morgan

CNN is talking to snarky British journalist Piers Morgan about a potential slot in its troubled prime-time lineup, sources said.

Morgan, a judge on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and across the pond on “Britain’s Got Talent,” is a friend of Simon Cowell‘s and the former editor of Britain’s Daily Mirror.

Cowell’s SYCO TV produces the talent contests. Morgan gained US notoriety as a winner of “Celebrity Apprentice.” Sources tell The Post’s Claire Atkinson that Morgan is now discussing a possible panel show at CNN, which has been battered by plunging ratings and is searching for a new identity.

The Time Warner-owned cable network has hemorrhaged viewers to Fox News Channel and even lost some to its own sibling service, HLN. There’s a talent drain as well: CNN recently lost Christiane Amanpour to ABC’s “This Week” and Gerri Willis to Fox Business Network.

CNN currently has Campbell Brown‘s 8 p.m. slot open — although a source said the network is also sounding out possible replacements for “Larry King Live.” King’s audience fell 43 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2009.

In recent days, disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer — who’s been appearing on MSNBC discussing politics — has also been reported in talks about a possible role at CNN.

One veteran news executive speculated that Time Warner would likely give CNN’s US president, Jonathan Klein, six more months and one last opportunity to boost prime time before seeking fresh blood.

“They know if nothing’s working, they’ve got to blow it up,” said one source.

A CNN rep said, “We always decline to comment on speculation.”