Incoming president of CNN Worldwide Jeff Zucker has plans to bring ousted “Today” show co-host Ann Curry to his new network as a high-profile anchor, sources tell Page Six.
Zucker — the former executive producer of “Today” and one-time NBC Universal head — is interested in installing Curry in CNN’s 8 p.m. time slot, we hear, which is currently occupied by Anderson Cooper.
Sources say Cooper could then segue to a “Christiane Amanpour role” as a globetrotting correspondent.
“Jeff wants a headliner like Rachel Maddow or Bill O’Reilly in prime time,” a source says. “He cannot allow the low ratings at CNN to continue . . . so he can’t hire a nobody. Curry fits that CNN-smarty-pants-foreign-affairs type.”
The source adds that Curry’s ouster as co-anchor over at NBC’s “Today” would actually work to boost her appeal with audiences. “Package her experience as a news anchor for 14 years at NBC with the sympathy that’s remained out there for her after the way the ‘Today’ show treated her,” the source said.
Curry’s tearful on-air farewell after being fired by NBC over the summer as “Today” co-host — having been given just a year on the job — was widely described as an “execution.”
Cooper, meanwhile, acknowledged CNN’s ratings woes and potential changes under Zucker’s imminent reign, telling CBS’ “This Morning” last week, “We’ve always done well when things are happening, and it’s in the slower times that we’ve run into problems, and I hope we figure it all out.”
The Post also reported this week that Zucker’s looking to Erin Burnett to revive CNN’s ratings by making her a morning anchor with a male co-host.
CNN’s rep said, “There is no shortage of rumors about what Jeff will do. He doesn’t start until late January, and any speculation at this point is just silly.” An NBC rep said, “Ann Curry is under contract with NBC News.”