CNN International & Domestic

My prediction: Acosta is either getting 3-6pm on weekends or a 9pm special. That either means someone is getting the boot or a new Sunday night magazine show

Plenty of changes there - the headline grabbing one being Jake Tapper taking one of Wolf's hours and him seeming to take over the mantle as the lead network anchor.

Seems like at least one of the existing weekend anchors is going to lose out - Pamela Brown's presenting hours seem to be when Ana Cabrera's current hours are and the bit about Jim Acosta's presenting hours "being on the weekends with more details coming soon" doesn't exactly sound hopeful for the current weekend team (especially those in Atlanta as they're the only regular Domestic anchors left presenting from there). Though who knows maybe it just means they'll cover news a lot later on weekends?

The statement too seems to confirm what many of us had thought that YWT won't be returning - at least in its previous timeslot as it's mentioned The Situation Room will be shown on CNNI (though it seemed like The Situation Room ended up airing more anyway than YWT). I fear that may be curtains for YWT - though a more sensible solution would be to move it into that Early Start/New Day position in the CNNI schedule where 3 hours of US simulcast feels a bit excessive given it's not even the 'big names' like Blitzer,Tapper etc.

There do seem to be a lot of Chief & Senior correspondents roles that all sound much of a muchness to me (What's the difference between a national correspondent and National affairs correspondent? And aren't Congressional, White House, Washington all pretty similar beats?). That said good to see Kaitlan Collins and Phil Mattingly getting high-profile roles as both are very much rising stars and on top of their brief.

There does sound a real lack of communication when it comes to CNNI - you'd like to think an anchor would be kept updated on when they might be back on air. It's not exactly a low-profile presenter either - it's Hala who has been on CNNI for years and has one of their primetime slots.
I'm sure she has/had a WFH studio too so no reason why they couldn't just do her show from home like they did when she was covering CTW when Becky was off air for months. Some blocks (the Early Start/New Day and 5-7pmUK time slots in particular) are screaming for an International hour to be thrown in.

Indeed it can't be sustainable. I guess if they're not presenting you have a few more correspondents (and some like Max already have existing reporting roles). However, there are a lot of London anchors at the moment without their usual shows - Cyril, Isa, Bianca, Hala, Max - and while there is a fair chunk of UK news I'm not sure London needs THAT many correspondents. With the existing "temporary" schedule there's a load of International presenters and nowhere near enough slots to go around so something will have to change.

Sounds like this is only the beginning:



SOURCE: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/media/cnn-washington-dc-anchors-correspondents/index.html

Yes you would have to imagine that a CNNI press release will follow in the coming days.

The shows I miss the most are Hala Gorani's and Bianca Nobilo's. While that's a good idea, shifting some international content and pulling New Day back, I get the feeling that bar minor changes, what we see currently is what we can expect long term on CNNI. I hope I'm wrong on that, but that is how I see the situation currently.

I miss Isa and Cyril with Your World Today. They have great chemistry and come across really informed with their questions during live interviews.

My bet is that he could do weekend mornings. NBC's White House correspondents Alexander and Welker are doing that shift on NBC so maybe the execs will think of extending the competition from the White House to Saturday mornings at least.

I really don’t think this Donestic announcement today means too much for CNNI. The only show mentioned that will be simulcast is Wolf’s, outside of what is always simulcasted such as SOTU and the Sunday shows. It’s been an exceptional year for all broadcasters and CNN took much the same steps as many of its competitors in scaling back.

Let’s just wait a little while before jumping to conclusions.

It’s inconceivable that CNN London will resign its output having only just moved into its state of the art London headquarters. As mentioned, it’s totally fluid. I envisage a somewhat return to normality once the inauguration is done and the circus has left town for good.

I think we just need to be a little patient and see what happens post Biden’s swearing in.

If anything, I think London will be crowned CNNI's headquarters the way NY is for Domestic (though some may argue that that distinction may belong to DC given the renewed prominence of the presenters based there).

I'm so thrilled to be taking the reins of Inside Politics Sunday from my friend and colleague @JohnKingCNN starting on January 24th. Could not be more proud to be joining this incredible @CNN franchise! https://t.co/odlIvfxUiK

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) January 11, 2021

That said it's coming up to a year now of only an hour's output a day or so coming from London - yes there's a pandemic on and much of 2020 was US election coverage heavy but other channels have managed to air a lot more output from London. So if London is supposedly going to be their CNNI hub they've not exactly indicated it recently.

I think too most have been patient with CNNI - I think when the pandemic first hit most understood the streamlining of operations etc. However, the channel has had more than enough time to adapt if they'd wanted to. The US output is great for a domestic audience and when America takes centre stage but world news it very much ain't.