Chris Licht, the executive producer of CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” has reportedly been tapped to become the next president of CNN, replacing Jeff Zucker, who stunningly resigned earlier this month.
Licht, whose deal with CBS expires in April, will run CNN as head of news for Warner Bros. Discovery, Puck first reported. Unlike Zucker, Licht’s purview won’t extend to sports.
The deal is expected to be announced at — or before — a special Discovery shareholders meeting on March 11.
Licht, who is well-regarding in the television industry, also previously worked as executive producer of CBS’s “This Morning” and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
CNN has been plagued by a cascade of recent high-profile scandals and steep ratings declines.
That rough patch was capped off Feb. 2 when Zucker resigned from the network after he failed to disclose a romantic relationship with another senior executive at the company.
Zucker, who has helmed the cable network for nine years, told colleagues in a memo his relationship with CNN’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer Allison Gollust came up during a probe into Chris Cuomo.
“As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years,” Zucker wrote in the memo, shared on Twitter by CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter.
“I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years,” he wrote. “I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong. As a result, I am resigning today.”
Discovery boss David Zaslav had also been considering CNN Executive Vice President of Programming Michael Bass, CBS News president David Rhodes, and others to replace Zucker.
Discovery and Licht did not return messages.