Morganatic

The entirely expected news that Piers Morgan will replace Larry King at CNN in the New Year does not make it any more explainable.   It really looks like a last flip of the coin for network boss Jonathan Klein, who's presided over a serious decline in ratings since taking the helm in 2004.   Larry King Live's prime slot at 9pm New York time is returning figures of around 750,000, down over 40% on a year ago. 750,000 (in the United States, mind you) is comparable with peak figures for BBC3, BBC4, and the re-runs offered by ITV2 and ITV4. The US adult population is around six times the size of the UKs.

On other US news channels, Sean Hannity on Fox News is getting around 2.5m.  MSNBC offers the improving Rachel Maddow in the same slot.  CNN's sister station HLN gives you softer celebrity interviews with Joy Behar.   (It's impossible to find any real figures for BBC World News America, hosted by the shy Matt Frei slightly earlier in the evening - we may return to that....)

Clearly stepping into the shoes of Larry will give Piers and CNN some news interest.   CNN and Piers say it's a four year contract; former CNN staff in the States give it less than a year.