Jeff Zucker (Getty Images)
Hello cable news, good-bye Katie Couric.
Jeff Zucker will give up his equity stake in the Disney-backed syndicated “Katie” show, which is co-owned with host Katie Couric, The Post has learned.
Zucker was confirmed yesterday as new boss of CNN’s global news operations and will land in his new Columbus Circle digs in mid-January.
In accepting the challenge to turn around ratings-starved CNN, the 47-year-old executive will first relinquish his executive producer credits and the potential for riches if “Katie” gets renewed.
Zucker has agreed to give up his stake so that it doesn’t present any conflicts of interest with his new bosses at Time Warner, sources tell The Post.
Speaking on a call with reporters, the freshly minted CNN boss stressed that he didn’t see cable news rivals Fox News channel and MSNBC as his competitive set.
Zucker said on the call he would broaden the definition of news beyond “politics and war.”
“The competition is anyone who competes for eyeballs and produces nonfiction programming,” he said.
While Zucker was guarded on the topic of who might be getting canned, he did say he wanted to see “vibrant broadcasters.” He also had some praise for an upcoming show from chef Anthony Bourdain, who is hosting a weekend travel and food program on CNN early in 2013.
Zucker added: “My best years were spent as a journalist. I had some really successful years, and no doubt I made mistakes in the entertainment world and I own those, but I feel really excited about returning to daily news.”
As the former Today Show executive producer, Zucker also oversaw “Nightly News” and “Dateline.”
His new boss, Turner Broadcasting CEO Phil Kent, joined Zucker on the call, admitting that the network has had some “executional issues,” even while its mission was clear.
Kent added that Zucker would also help reinvent mornings at the network, “That is a thought exercise that we didn’t do enough of,” he added.
“We had shows about sports, fashion and tech. Some of that is going to be revisited,” Kent said.
There is speculation as to whether Zucker will name a No. 2. He has a host of folks reporting directly to him, including CNN International boss Tony Maddox; Executive VP Ken Jautz, who runs the US network; and Scot Safon, another executive VP who runs HLN.
Many CNN watchers are wondering if any of the three news chiefs at NBCUniversal — Steve Capus (NBC News), Mark Hoffman (CNBC) and Phil Griffin (MSNBC) — will bolt to join Zucker, given that Comcast added a layer of management when Patricia Fili-Krushel was named chairman of NBC News Group.
Discovery Communications’ David Zaslav, a former colleague of Zucker’s when the two were at NBCUniversal, said: “He’s got the juice. This is what he does and what he grew up around. He sees things no one else does.”