HLN intends to launch a new show featuring former CNN anchor Carol Costello in late April and will move Michaela Pereira‘s late-morning program to the afternoon in order to accommodate the shift, the executive who supervises the Time Warner-owned cable outlet said in a Tuesday memo.
“Across America with Carol Costello” will air between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. eastern, said Ken Jautz, the CNN executive vice president who supervises HLN’s operations. Since May of last year, Jautz and other executives have tried to focus HLN on its cable-news roots – the network was once known as CNN Headline News – and worked to boost appeal among a younger, more female audience to offer a contrast with sister outlet CNN. Gone are programs focused on social media or lighter fare. In their place, news broadcasts anchored by veterans like Erica Hill that are more in keeping with the tone set by Robin Meade‘s morning show.
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As part of the launch, Michaela Pereira’s program, which had occupied the late-morning slot, will air between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. In his memo, Jautz said he believed the new daytime lineup would drive the biggest number of viewers into the network’s early-evening and primetime schedule. Pereira will continue to host her program from Los Angeles.
HLN has in recent months also installed Ashleigh Banfield at 8 p.m. and begun airing some of CNN’s original non-fiction programming as well as some of its own originals in primetime.
